With Open Arms
by LitLover 101
Summary: Bonnie and Kai are the most unlikely people to become friends, lovers or to find a happily ever after. However, in this series of drabbles and one-shots, anything is possible. Canon and AUs included where Bonnie and Kai fight each other in the supernatural world or sometimes over making cookies. Who knew? BonKai fic. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Bonnie and Kai are the most unlikely people to become friends, lovers or to find a happily ever after. However, in this series of drabbles and one-shots, anything is possible. Canon and AUs included where Bonnie and Kai fight each other in the supernatural world or sometimes over making cookies. Who knew? BonKai fic. Enjoy!

**Hello, my lovely readers. This is my newest fic of far, far too many but what can I say, BonKai's chemistry is inspiring me. If you have a request then let me know. On with the show…**

Chapter 1: A New Day

"Welcome home, Bonnie Bennett," Kai Parker greeted Bonnie gleefully in the exact spot she had been standing in when she was sent to hell with Damon Salvatore.

Bonnie blinked. She could have sworn that she heard the most loathsome sound in the entire world just now. But that was impossible because the last time she had heard that sound was when he rammed a knife into her gut and left her for dead. Twirling on her heel as slowly as possible, due to her desire to decrease the time between being met with the hallucination that would tell her that she had indeed lost her mind, Bonnie sucked in a deep, calming breath. Before her stood the man of her nightmares who was holding his arms open as if he expected her to embrace him rather than trying to kill him.

Raising her hand, she waved it at him as if she could wave him away. "No, you're not really here," Bonnie said, her voice shaking.

"Really, Bonnie? I mean I know that I kind of stabbed you and ran, but are you really going to hold that against me. After all I'm here to make up for all that. Let's put the past behind us. Say bygones and then we go back to your boring town and boring friends and I can cook you dinner to make up for killing you. You can meet my family. Well, what's left of them, that is. I might have merged with my twin. No big deal in the long run. Doubt you two would have hit it off. But you're practically besties with Liv. Or at least as close as Liv gets. She really needs some gal pals. Maybe someone who would suggest that she doesn't date werewolves," Kai was saying as he followed Bonnie who was walking away from him. "And where is it that you think you're going?"

"Anywhere that you're not," Bonnie shouted over her shoulder or wherever Kai was. She was furious that he would not just leave her alone. Maybe if she just closed her eyes and said a prayer. Not that praying helped when you were in hell. But who knew. Closing her eyes, Bonnie began to pray when Kai placed his arms around her waist. That snapped her out of her trance. "Get off of me, Kai," she screamed when the white light appeared. Oh, not again. She so hoped she was sucked into the nineteen forties or something like that.

Bonnie was forced to close her eyes when the light became too much. After a moment, Kai released her and no more than had he released her than she was being pulled into someone else's grip. Only this person was slighter than Kai and then there were more arms and Bonnie feared who was touching her. There were too many of them. "Bonnie," a familiar voice squealed and Bonnie's lids popped open to find Elena, Caroline and Jeremy.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God." These seemed to be the only words that Bonnie could say as she stared at her friends. Looking around, she saw Damon with Stefan. Damon waved and smirked at her as she nodded back with a wide smile. Tyler was standing with Liv who was with Luke. Kai was standing beside his sister with glowing eyes. Bonnie gulped wondering what he had done to bring her back and what price he had asked from her friends. What kind of bloodshed had gone into her resurrection?

Forcing the thoughts away, Bonnie grinned at her friends. "I'm back," she said. God, how many times had she said these words before but they held new meaning now. And it meant that she owed the devil. Glancing at Kai, Bonnie wondered what price that Kai would extract from her. She knew that he would not have brought her back if he didn't have a plan and she was terrified of what he wanted. However, she was not the old Bonnie who would allow a super warlock like Kai to use her or to manipulate her. No, she would do what was best for her from now on and Kai would find out soon that Bonnie was no longer afraid of anything or anyone for that matter. She was going to live every day to its fullest. And God help him if he stood in her way.

Meeting Kai's gaze as he stared at her intently, Bonnie felt her lips twisting her mouth upward into a smirk. Whatever he planned, she was ready for him. Let the games begin.

**Let me know what you think with comments, questions or flat out adoration… **

**Thanks for faving, following, reading and/or reviewing. **

**Peace, **

**Jessica **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, my lovely readers. Thank you for the kind response to my first BonKai fic. This one-shot is a human AU. I'll probably switch around a bit just in case you're curious. Next time will be a supernatural, future shot about New Year's Eve. On with the show…**

Chapter 2: Killing You With Kindness

"Are you ready for this, Bon Bon?" Kai asked with a gleeful smile that made Bonnie freeze. But she would not let him have the advantage. There was no way that she was going down without a fight. If he thought so then he was crazy. Well technically he was crazy. Aiming, she was ready to fire.

"Ready when you are? Unless of course you lost your confidence and want to declare a truce," Bonnie smirked at Kai who narrowed his eyes.

"Never going to happen, Bennett," Kai declared as he lifted his own weapon.

"On your mark. Ready. Go!" Caroline yelled as Bonnie and Kai began to ice their Christmas cookies like there was no tomorrow. This would be the fifth year in a row that Kai was declared the champion of their Christmas tradition if Bonnie was not able to defeat him this year. Nope. No way. Parker was going down. If not, Damon would be crying in his bourbon because he had lost the bet once again.

Caroline was watching them intently. Bonnie knew that Caroline would not just give her the award, but she wished just one year that her best friend did not have to be such a perfectionist in all things. "You have ten minutes remaining," the blonde girl said eagerly, her eyes wide as her boyfriend, Klaus, took a swig from his glass of champagne and smiled at Caroline's enthusiasm.

Damn. Kai already had twenty-five cookies perfectly iced. How in the hell was he so good at this? Damn him. What? Did he just sit around doing nothing but decorating cookies all year long, just waiting for this day? He was sprinkling the cookies with a light shower that made Bonnie's jaw clench. She wanted to stab him with a knife. Couldn't he just screw something up? Huh.

"Go, Bonnie," Elena cheered as Damon wrapped an arm around her waist.

Of course Kai's family had to be rooting for him even though every other day of the year they would be at each other's throats. But not today. And just because Ric was dating Kai's twin, Jo, that meant he was Team Kai. Gritting her teeth again, Bonnie kept working as she worked her way around a particularly hard Santa.

"That one's mine," Kol Mikaelson shouted as his girlfriend from New Orleans, Davina, shushed him. "What? I want the bloody cookie."

"I'm going to beat your ass like every year, Bonnie. What are you willing to give up this year?" Kai asked as he placed the finishing touches on cookie number forty. She was five behind him.

"Nothing. Because you're not going to win," Bonnie declared with her jaw clenched.

"She will wipe the bloody floor with you, Parker," Rebekah swore as she texted whoever she was dating this year.

"Damn straight I am," Bonnie muttered as she blew out a stand of hair from her eyes. Just as Kai was finishing his last cookie, Bonnie found she was behind him by two. Damn. He was going to win again. She hated him so very much.

"Done," Kai declared, setting the pastry bag down on the table as Bonnie finished her last two cookies.

"Whatever," Bonnie snapped at Kai who grinned happily.

Caroline pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and began to look at the cookies carefully. All of Bonnie's cookies passed the test. Soon one was jammed in Kol's mouth. "Thanks, Kol."

Picking up Kai's cookies, Caroline began to inspect them. Shaking her head, she groaned before flipping one cookie over just enough for the others to see it as she showed each member, including Kai, who looked dismayed. "You burned the edges, Kai. It looks like your winning streak is over. Bonnie, you have won this year's Christmas Cookie Challenge," Caroline shouted.

Bonnie could only stand still until Stefan placed a hand on her shoulder. "Great job," he told her.

"In your face, Kai," Bonnie yelled at Kai who rolled his eyes before picking up one of her cookies. The one that she baked for herself and bit the head off of Mrs. Claus.

Feeling anger fill her to the brim, Bonnie imagined steam pouring out of her ears as her eyes narrowed into little slits. "That was mine," Bonnie hissed as Kai licked crumbles from the corners of his lips with slow flicks of his tongue. If she could reach him, she would pull out that appendage and slice it off. Let him try to make his sarcastic remarks afterward. Smiling at the thought, Bonnie's pleasure did not last long.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was this the cookie that you made for yourself?" Kai pointed at the cookie with upraised eyebrows before smiling widely. "It just looked so delicious. But, you know, next time you should add a little less salt and more sugar since they are called Sugar Cookies."

Growling, Bonnie attempted to climb on top of the table that separated the two while Klaus laughed when Caroline slapped the back of his head. "Ouch," the curly haired Mikaelson groaned as he rubbed at the sore area.

Stefan and Damon pulled Bonnie back as she continued to move to mount the place where the groups' desert lay. Grabbing a plate, Kol looked fearful. "Save the cookies, mates. We knew she would flip one day. I say there will be blood. Move. Save the wee ones," Kol declared as he shoved the plate of cookies in his hands toward Rebekah who rolled her eyes.

"Kol," Davina protested when he took another plate and handed it to her while snatching up other cookies and piling them on a plate, making a mess of Bonnie's hard work.

Kai began to laugh when Bonnie glared at Kol which just made her attention waver back to him. "I hate you," Bonnie yelled as she wrenched away from Damon and picked up the pastry sack closet to her. Sending a spray of red icing Kai's way, she let out an hysterical giggle when Kai grabbed Liv, using his younger sister as a human shield.

"Oh, my God. My hair," Liv hollered.

"If you ask me. It's an improvement," Damon told her with a smirk as Liv gasped and Tyler picked up Kai's pastry bag, aiming it at Damon, he fired not at Damon, but at Stefan.

"Now, that is what I call an improvement," Tyler declared as Stefan lifted a finger to his green frosted locks in dismay. Damon began to laugh when he was hit in the face with a green sugary substance by Liv who had taken the bag from her love.

"Oh, no, you did not," Damon shouted and soon chaos erupted in the Salvatore kitchen where people began to open cabinet doors and the refrigerator to find new weapons to use on each other. Bonnie and Kai who started the whole war, ducked down and crawled out of the room with Bonnie in the lead.

"You know all of that is your fault," Kai whispered as he peered back inside the room while Bonnie was peering over his shoulder. She giggled as Caroline hit Klaus with an egg.

"Really? I recall your being a jerk who was about to get his just deserts. But since he couldn't take it like a man he had to use his innocent sister. Such a jerk," Bonnie snapped irritably.

"Whatever," Kai replied with his usual amount of maturity that was the equivalent of a five year old's. "Have you decided what you want from me this Christmas? Something that involves my taking off my clothes and -"

Staring in horror at Kai, Bonnie shook her head vigorously before interrupting him. "Ew. No. Never," she gasped while wrinkling her nose in disgust.

Shrugging, Kai grinned back. "Can't blame a guy for trying."

"Yes. Actually you can," Bonnie replied as she looked into the kitchen to find that the chaos was coming to an end. "And here is my present to you. You can clean up the mess in there."

"No," Kai moaned as he looked inside at the room with food splattered walls, floor and furniture. "That's going to take all day to clean up."

"Too bad," Bonnie told him with a smile as she headed back in. "Good news, everyone. Kai's cleaning the kitchen." Everyone cheered except for Kol who was sitting on the floor, pouting while Davina shook her head from her position above him with arms crossed, looking more like his parent than his girlfriend.

"And he offered to make new cookies," Bonnie added which had Kol on his feet, grinning from ear to ear. Before either Kai or Bonnie had time to react, Kol had launched himself at Kai and was hugging him. Kai looked at Bonnie for help but she just smiled back at him.

After a good long minute of Kai looking like he wanted to die, Kol let him go and headed into the living room to play Pin the Reindeer Nose on a Drunken Klaus. "Thanks for that," Kai snapped as he walked over to the sink to collect a bucket and a sponge. "You know you're only supposed to get one thing for the challenge, right?"

"Oh, I know. But you owe me one because I'm going to waste my precious holiday time supervising you," Bonnie informed Kai. "Besides I wanted to see if everyone destroyed all the ingredients for more cookies."

"Probably did," Kai told her, sounding like he was pleased with the idea.

Opening the door, Bonnie knew from having spent plenty of time over the years in the Salvatore's kitchen to know where Damon and Stefan hid their food. Pulling out milk and margarine, she held onto the items since there was nowhere clean to set them down. Moving over to the cabinets, she pulled down sugar, salt, baking soda, flour, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Setting the ingredients down on the counter that Kai had just cleaned, Bonnie waited for him to clean the table while pulling down a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon before retrieving a rolling pin and a tray.

Kai was cleaning the walls when Bonnie began to hum to herself as she poured the ingredients together. She could feel Kai watching her. "Keep going," she ordered him as she stirred the mixture.

After Kai finished cleaning up, he cleaned his hands and then took the sugar, milk and vanilla extract, mixing them together. Looking for the food coloring, he stopped when Bonnie walked over and pulled a cabinet door open. Smiling, Kai made two batches of icing, one red icing and one green. He handed Bonnie the red and took the green. "Is that to match your envy of my winning this year?" Bonnie teased as they started to scoop out cookie batter. Bonnie pulled out the little cookie cutters. Handing him Mrs. Klaus, she went about making little reindeer, trees and Santa Clauses.

"Will you have enough that I can take some home with me?" Rebekah inquired. "Lijah will want some for himself and the little wifelet and the tiniest Mikaelsons. And I might want to give a few to my boyfriend since I blew him off to spend the day with you people and Nik."

"Sure, Bekah," Kai said with grin as Rebekah smiled at him and Bonnie glared before tossing her cookies into the stove. Leaning against the counter, she turned on a timer and blew out a breath when she felt lips press to her cheek.

"Mistletoe," Kai announced and Bonnie looked upward wondering where in the hell it had come from.

"Uh huh," Bonnie replied as she ignored him. When the timer went off, she took out a tray and looked down at the cookies. Kai shoved his cookies in and Bonnie took the opportunity to leave the kitchen to escape Kai's presence. There was only so much of him that she could take during one holiday.

At the end of the day, Bonnie was putting on her coat and was planning on leaving after saying good-bye to Stefan, Damon and Elena. It was late and she needed to get home to look in on her Grams to check in and see how she was today. Most days her Grams did not recognize her and that had been true this morning. That didn't mean that something couldn't have changed in spite of the nurse telling her that her Grams had not shown any signs of change.

"Bonnie, leaving so soon?" Kai called as he appeared with a box in his hands.

"Soon?" Bonnie scoffed. "I have to get home. Good night, Kai."

Kai nodded. "Say hi to your Grams for me," he replied as he held out the box to her. "And don't forget your present."

"Present?" Bonnie looked at the box, wondering what kind of prank the box contained.

"Yeah. Just a little something," Kai replied. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Bonnie said quietly, taking the box, she walked out to her car. Getting inside her car, she sat the box on the passenger seat. When curiosity overwhelmed her, Bonnie opened the box to find exactly twenty-four Mrs. Santas with icing spelling out "Sorry for eating your Mrs. Claus!" There was a twenty-fifth Mr. Claus with a heart and a smiley face inside. Laughing, Bonnie wiped her eyes. She might hate Kai most of the time but he knew her so well. Next year she would think of a gift to give him in return, perhaps a something that involved mistletoe. Maybe. Probably not. Maybe. Or icing. Maybe.

**Thank you for faving, following, reading and/or reviewing. **

**Let me know what you think in the little review box and have a happy and safe holiday season.**

**Answers to reviews: **

**Guest: Thank you for the support. Some of the games will take place from the "threat/promise" that Bonnie makes in the** **first drabble while others will deal with the theme of games. Really it will depend on what my muse inspires me to write that week. And, yes, it is very cool that we're getting more BonKai fics. **

**LighteningBolt21: Thank you. We are beginning to make slow inroads into the fanfic world. **

**Bittersweetagony: Thank you. **

**Angel: Thank you. **

**Defying Gravity9: I will as long as my muse continues to plague me with dreams of dancing psychopaths and good girls that have a hard time staying that way when they're going through hell. **

**Peace,**

**Jessica **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, my lovely readers. I wrote this about two weeks ago when my writer's block was still in full swing along with some nasty weather. I hope that you enjoy it and hopefully there will be another chapter up this month. On with the show…**

Chapter 3: The Games We Play

In the past eighty or so years there had come to be a tradition on New Year's Eve that there would be games. Not ordinary games because these, after all, these were supernatural creatures. You could not have a simple night around the fire playing truth or dare without someone nearly landing in said fireplace. This was amusing to some. Not to others. Not to Mrs. Parker. Therefore this year she wanted something a little less destructive to her new home.

"Okay. I think we should play Hide and Seek this year," Bonnie announced holding up a glass of champagne and watching her husband, Malakai Parker choke on his own champagne while Damon Salvatore chuckled.

"That's a joke, right, Bon Bon?" Damon asked, looking at Bonnie with a wide smile as Elena hid her own smile behind her glass.

Caroline blew out a long breath as she inhaled another glass. "I think it's a good idea. I mean last year Kol nearly killed Klaus. And then Klaus nearly killed Elijah in the process of trying to kill Kol and -"

"We get it, Blondie. We were there, remember? Or did you drink so much that you managed to kill the rest of your remaining brain cells?" Damon snapped at Caroline.

Kai held up a finger about to intervene when Klaus grabbed Damon by the shirt collar. "Perhaps you need to cool down, mate?" Klaus asked with a gleam in his eye as he headed toward the wide bay window in the great room. Bonnie cringed. She and Kai had only been there for a solid month and already their first holiday would be ruined by violence. Nothing new but still annoying.

"Stop it, Niklaus. Put him down," Elijah demanded as his wife, Hayley watched from her seat on a couch beside Rebekah who looked bored and Liv Lockwood who looked like she wanted to be anywhere else.

"Hey, everybody, this is a brand new house and my wife really likes it… so…" Kai waited for Klaus and the others to stop before sighing heavily. "Have it your way." Waving his hand the leader of the Gemini coven sent all three vampires flying until they found themselves attached to the cathedral ceiling. It was at moments like this that Bonnie felt proud of Kai. He had learned to begin to use his powers for less malicious uses like causing his foes agonizing pain. Such a difference three decades by Bonnie's side had made. "And now we're done," flipping his hand downward, Kai dropped the two vampires and one hybrid from the ceiling with a nasty sounding thud. Smirking, Kai waited for Bonnie to go on.

"Anybody else have an objection to the game this year?" Bonnie inquired, looking around to find no one objecting. "Okay. Then I guess we just figure out who will hide and who will seek."

"And what the winner gets as a prize?" Kol added with grin.

"What do you have in mind?" Kai asked the Original.

Smiling widely, Kol replied. "Oh, I think that the winner should be able to use the losers as their own personal servants for the remainder of the year."

"Kol," Davina cried. Her expression was alarmed as she looked at the rest of the group which included a leering Klaus who looked as if he had just been given the country to rule.

"I don't think so," Bonnie retorted.

"Why not? Are you afraid that you will not be part of the winning team, darling?" Kol asked her.

"No, I'm not," Bonnie snapped.

"Let's make it for one day. Does that sound fair?" Kai inquired, sneaking a quick glance at Bonnie who had folded her arms over her chest.

"Fair enough," Klaus agreed. "What about you, Salvatore? You up for the challenge?" he questioned Damon who smirked back in answer.

"Ready when you are," Damon answered.

"It's settled then," Kai announced. "Now, back to picking teams." He looked around himself, waiting for someone to make a suggestion.

Bonnie rolled her eyes as her husband waited for someone to answer. She was giving it five seconds before his control freak nature took over and he began dividing up the large group. "I'm Team Bonnie," Caroline called before Bonnie could get to two and half in her head.

"Me, too," Elena added quickly while smiling at Damon who rolled his eyes. "How about boys versus girls?"

"How is that fair?" Josh, Davina's friend from New Orleans, asked. He had come with his husband, Aiden. The two men were looking uncomfortable now.

"Okay. Not boys versus girls. Just whoever wants to be on whoever's team. Like spouses versus spouses," Caroline said with a shrug. "That'll work, right? Or team captains could pick who they want on their teams?"

"This is not high school, Caroline," Hayley muttered earning an eye roll from Caroline.

"And when you host next year you can do whatever you want," Caroline growled back.

"Touche," Rebekah scoffed with a wide grin.

"Time to pick," Kai announced with his hands on his hips. "I'll start. I want Klaus."

"Take him," Bonnie replied.

"Who elected him captain?" Damon inquired with a glare directed at Kai.

"This is my house," Kai replied. "And that means that Caroline is still on Bonnie's team."

"I want Davina," Bonnie announced.

"Elijah," Kai said.

"Rebekah," Bonnie watched as the Original smiled before coming to stand beside her sister-in-law, Davina.

"I guess that I'll take Tyler since he can sniff Liv out," Kai told them as Liv gave her brother a dark look. "And the Aiden guy. You're a wolf, too, right?" Aiden nodded and joined Kai's team while Josh joined Bonnie's.

Soon the teams were formed with Kai having taken anyone that was either a Mikaelson, a Salvatore or a werewolf. Bonnie's team were a mingling or vampires and fellow witches along with one human that Stefan had met and married last year. Bonnie couldn't really remember her name. "Who's going to hide and who's going to seek?" Bonnie asked Kai who looked amused by her question.

"Oh, Bonnie, it's that obvious?" Kai inquired, kissing her lightly before placing his hands over his eyes. "I'll give you till the count of a hundred and then I'm coming for you, baby. One hundred. Ninety-nine," Kai began to count off as Bonnie and her large group began to disperse.

"What number is he on now?" Davina asked anxiously.

"Eighty," Rebekah said, tilting her head as Bonnie hurried up the stairs to the walk-in closet in her bedroom.

"Are we going to hide in there? That's a really great plan?" Liv whispered loudly.

"No," Bonnie said as she pushed the clothes out of the way. Pushing on a slate in the back of the closet, she watched it pop open.

"He's on twenty," Rebekah called quietly.

"Hurry up," Hayley ordered.

"Hey, Queen of the Puppies. Calm it down," Caroline snapped.

Bonnie wondered how it was that Caroline, Hayley, Rebekah and Davina were able to rule as the queens on the French Quarter without killing each other for the past five decades. Snapped out of her own thoughts, she pushed the door open and began to wave the other inside. Turning around, she placed her hand on the door, chanting a cloaking spell. "Time to go," she whispered as Elena ran alongside her. They moved from the third story of the house to the first. The tunnel that had been built in case anything ever happened that she and Kai were under siege led straight to a tomb where some of the Bennetts had been laid to rest. Of course there were other tunnels that led to places such as the old Lockwood cellar and the Salvatore Boarding house as well in case they needed another escape hatch.

When they came to the three pronged exit, Bonnie had to make a quick decision. The other team would not win if they didn't catch everyone so that meant that they needed to split up. "Liv, take this one," Bonnie pointed at the middle tunnel that led to the Lockwood property. "Take Rebekah and Stefan's wife with you. Liv, Rebekah and, was her name Rachel, hurried off. "Okay, Davina and Hayley, you two take this route," Bonnie pointed toward the Salvatore Boarding house's tunnel which was to their immediate right. The witch and hybrid took off.

"I guess that leaves us three," Bonnie said with smile. It had been some time since she, Caroline and Elena had really been able to spend time together. Caroline spent most of her time with Klaus running their city. Elena had been globetrotting with Damon for over a decade.

"It's like old times," Caroline squealed.

"We can hear you, love," Klaus boomed from not as far off as would have given Bonnie comfort.

"Going. Now," Elena whispered with a giggle before they began to blur down the tunnel with Bonnie being half-carried by her two vampire friends. Once they made it to the mausoleum, Bonnie was sure that the other team would find them but they were nowhere in sight.

"Where are you, Bonnie?" Kai called into the darkness as Bonnie groaned. She should have known that just because she couldn't see them didn't mean they weren't there. "Come out, come out, wherever you are?"

Peering around, Bonnie attempted to make out where the men were when something whizzed by her vision. "You can run but you can't hide," Damon taunted them.

"We'll always find you," Klaus called as he appeared into view and Caroline yelped. He made to grab his wife when Bonnie raised a hand and sent him sailing into the trees.

"That looked like it hurt," Damon said close to Bonnie's ear when he let out a cry of pain. Looking down he saw a branch sticking through his gut. "Ouch. That's not playing fair, Elena."

Smiling, Elena kissed Damon on the forehead. "All's fair in love and war. Let's go." She turned to come face to face with Kai.

"Hi there. Going somewhere?" he asked with grin directed at Bonnie.

"Yeah, they are," Hayley said smacking him over the head with broken pieces of grave stone. "Good thing I don't take orders well."

"My hero," Caroline laughed as she grabbed Bonnie's hand. "Let's go before they wake up."

"Not so fast," Kol shouted as he came toward them with a gleam in his eyes. "We found the Parker witch, my sister and the married to the less suicidal of the Salvatores. Now where is my better half, pray tell?"

"Not here," Hayley called. "But if you want to follow me, you might find her." Running off the hybrid disappeared.

"I think we should split up," Caroline told Bonnie and Elena.

"That never works in horror movies," Elena pointed out.

"We're not in a horror movie. I think," Bonnie argued, breathing heavily.

"Just go," Caroline ordered with a roll of her eyes.

Turning on her heel, Bonnie ran back toward the tunnels. If everyone else was searching outside the house they wouldn't think to go back inside. Hurrying back into the tunnels, Bonnie headed straight up to her closet and into the house. Walking downstairs, she uncorked another bottle of champagne and began to dance around the living room. This was entertaining until she slammed into something solid in her half-drunken stupor thinking she had won. Not knowing what she had run into, she placed her hand right through what she could have sworn was solid matter just a second ago.

When everyone began to file inside, Bonnie grinned at the guys. "Team Bon Bon won," she cheered. "No one could find me." Looking around at Kai's team who looked defeated she waited for Kai to admit defeat when he came downstairs. "Where were you?"

"Bathroom. You know me and too much champagne," Kai announced with a smile.

"Uh huh. Okay, so your team lost which means you're our bitches for the rest of the day," Bonnie exclaimed.

"Sure," Kai replied with another smile that made her frown. He did not look defeated and that was annoying to say the least. "Want to come with me as I refill you glass?"

"Yup," Bonnie said with her eyes narrowed. Once they got into the kitchen she stabbed an index finger into his chest. "You were in the living room with me earlier."

"Who me?" Kai gave Bonnie a mock innocent look as he poured her another glass of champagne. "Why would I throw the game?"

"Because you hate Damon and doing anything that makes him miserable makes you happy," Bonnie pointed out.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. But if I did win all I would want was a kiss from the loser of the opposing team," Kai replied, examining Bonnie's lips.

"Good thing you didn't win then, isn't it?" Bonnie replied.

"Ha ha," Kai shook his head while circling his arm around her waist. They exited the room and headed back to join the rest of the group. "Hey, Damon, Bonnie wants you to clean the floors of all the rooms with your new shirt collection. You bought those in Italy, right?"

"Screw you," Damon muttered irritably but Kai wasn't paying attention to him. He only had eyes for his wife.

"Happy New Year's, Mrs. Parker," Kai whispered into Bonnie's ear before claiming his prize which she did not complain about, not even for a second.

**Comments? Questions? **

**Thank you for reading, faving, following and for reviewing. **

**Answers to reviews: **

**BrownEyedSilver: Thank you. I am too. **

**Guest: Thank you. In a better, happier time that could happen on the show. **

**BonkaiChristmas: Thank you. **

**LogicToMyLit111: Thank you. Sorry about the wait. Writer's block is a real bitch. :/ **

**Peace, **

**Jessica**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, my lovely readers. This chapter is a bit darker and was inspired by the song "If I Ever See Your Face Again," sung by Adam Levine and Rhianna also inspired by the one of the scenes in season six which I can't remember the name of. And this chapter is pure BonKai with one sighting of another character and minor references to others. On with the show…**

Chapter 4: If I Ever See Your Face Again

When Bonnie Bennett promised Malachai Parker that if she ever saw him again she would "melt his face off," she was not kidding. And, Kai being Kai, did not head her warning. Instead, he approached her in less than twenty-four hours by entering her dorm room, uninvited to watch her sleep. This was not his smartest move to date.

When Bonnie woke to find Kai watching her nestled under her covers, dreaming dreams of distant lands without time travel and crazy witches, she screamed. "Get out!"

Kai fell back off the bed, onto his ass, with wide eyes and his hands up in surrender. "Bonnie, I just came here because I needed to tell you how sorry I am. I know I said that earlier at the rave, but I don't think that you could _understand_ me for some reason. So, I came _here_… because you _have_ to know. You have to _listen_ to me. _Please_, Bonnie. This is _important_!" Kai pleaded with the outraged witch whose face was contorting with rage. Her lips peeled back to show her teeth. He thought she might bite him and way deep down, a part of him came alive.

Seeing the look that crossed Kai's face for a moment, if you blinked you would have missed it, the way that his eyes glittered. She knew that look. It was the same look that he had _every_, single time he had hurt her, or Damon, in the prison world. Kai needed to suffer. He needed to _burn_ for his crimes. He needed to know what it was like to suffer for his crimes, _really_ suffer.

Kai watched as the petite woman before him lifted her hands, curling them into claws as she growled out the incantation and his instincts for self-preservation began to kick in. Yes, he deserved whatever she planned on throwing his way, but that did not mean he would just stand here and let her kill him. Lifting his own hands, Kai began to chant, but he knew it was a losing battle as Bonnie's voice drove into his body and his skin began to sizzle. "_Bonnie_!" he cried in fear as the smell of burning flesh began to fill the room. "_Bonnie_, you _don't_ know what you're _doing_."

His words, his pleas for mercy were useless. She could only hear her voice. The smell of him cooking mere feet from her would have nauseated her on any day, before he stabbed her. _Any_ _other_ _day_. 'I was a _good_ person,' she thought with a slow smile as she closed her eyes. "I was _good_," she said, feeling the magic curling out from her fingertips. This felt even better than Expression. She felt alive with the rage, and the pain, and nature. Kai was unnatural and he needed to be one with the earth to make something new, something pure. Or he would turn it as black as his heart. She didn't know, she didn't care.

When his hand clapped down on her wrist, Bonnie yelped. It wasn't hot, only his face was burning, his eyes red and ready to burst as she opened her eyes. Taking a long look at her handiwork, Bonnie let out a laugh. This is what he had done to her. He had made her a monster. Staring at Kai, Bonnie began to laugh louder as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Kai watched the little witch laugh at him till something in him broke, too. Grabbing her by the hair, he forced her mouth to his so that her lips met the crisp flesh of his mouth which emitted smoke as he tugged her closer to him even as she struggled to free herself. He was sucking her magic into him in waves, leaving her exhausted as his face cooled and his skin regenerated.

Bonnie was gasping and choking when Kai pulled away to look at her. She _hated_ him. She hated him _so_ much. All she wanted to do was to find the fire poker and to plunge it through his beating heart. "_Why_?" she yelled, curling up in a corner beside her bed. "Why _me_? I didn't _ever_ hurt you? But you _shot_ me with an arrow and you _stabbed_ me? And you left me _alone_. You _left_ me. _You_ _left_ _me_," she wailed, getting to her feet and punching Kai in the chest over and over. She didn't have her magic, but she still had her anger. She had her anger and that was what had gotten her through the days. "_Why_?"

"I don't _know_," Kai said, watching the witch as she pounded away at him, leaving little red welts under his shirt which would leave little blue and purple bruises in the morning. He would trace those marks tomorrow, knowing all the while that it was a sickness within him that made him hurt people, to want to be hurt. One day there would be sweet, _sweet_ release. But until then, there was _Bonnie_. Little BonBon, who was so full of life, and anger. He wanted to hold her, but he couldn't.

"I should go," Kai said and Bonnie looked at him with another body wrenching sob, choking her as she glared at him.

"Then go. _Go_. Like you did _before_. _Leave_ _me_. Leave the mess that _you_ created, _monster_," Bonnie yelled at Kai who nodded.

Bobbing his head up and down, Kai turned his back on the woman who was still shaking. His body moved toward the door while his mind shifted backwards toward the broken woman behind him. 'Go, go, go,' he ordered himself till he was at the door. When he turned to find her, hugging herself with her eyes on the floor, he knew what he was about to do which would just make him hit again. He didn't care though. Striding back across the feet that separated them, Kai yanked Bonnie's arms down. Replacing her arms with his own, Kai watched Bonnie's head snap upward to stare at him with wide eyes and an even wider gap between her lips.

Bonnie's body was quaking with the force of Kai's kiss. It was not like the first, it did not taste like death. It tasted like life. Her mind was racing and her body was fighting the response which made her reach up and clasp his head, bringing his face closer to hers. Feeling his tongue in her mouth, she didn't resist when he pulled her off her feet, she wrapped her legs around his waist. 'Oh," was all she could think. 'Oh, oh, oh," was the nonsense running through her mind. Hate sex. She had never thought it would be appealing, but at this moment that was all she wanted. She wanted him on top of her, his hands exploring her body, his mouth tasting her. She wanted him. Oh, my God, did she want him.

Kai wanted Bonnie more than he had wanted a woman in all his years. She was young and had not seen half the things that he had or done them either. She was the good in the world. He wanted to devour her and taste what sweetness life had to offer. If they were one, would she take some of the pain away? Would she make him a whole man? Would she? Holding her tighter, he dared to stroke her back as he explored her mouth. If only he had met her before. If only she had been his before the stupid merge, before he could not take it any longer, before he knew what his family truly thought of him. If only.

Bonnie knew that if Caroline of Elena entered the room and saw her sucking face with Public Enemy Number one they would freak. If Damon saw her, he would think it a betrayal of their tenuous friendship, especially after what she had to say to him after the rave. He would call her a hypocrite. And he would be right. And she didn't care.

"I should _go_," Kai said, suddenly pulled his mouth away and searched Bonnie's eyes. She stared at him with her own wide, shocked eyes. He didn't see loathing there anymore which was a start. When he set her on her feet, she looked disappointed as she adjusted her shirt.

"Okay," Bonnie said. He should go. He should _never have_ come here in the first place.

"You'll _be_ fine," Kai told Bonnie who looked up at him again with a dark look but he could see a twinkle of humor in her eyes.

"You bet," Bonnie replied sarcastically. She walked Kai to the door without thinking about her actions. It was like they were on a date which was not right because they would _never_ be dating. No, that was Elena's and Caroline's territory to get their feathers ruffled by the villains, that was not Bonnie, _never_ Bonnie. "Have a nice night," she said as Kai paused in the doorway.

"You, too," Kai replied with a grin and he was the one to be surprised when Bonnie flung her arms around his neck and kissed him. It only lasted thirty seconds before she pulled away, shoved him out the door and then slammed it shut. Touching his lips, he smiled to himself as he walked away, down the hall, and right past a disturbed looking Elena Gilbert, who was standing at the end of the hall, with her arms folded. "Night," Kai called cheerfully. He had a feeling that this would not be the last time that he got a disapproving look from one of BonBon's roommates, but the first of many.

**Thanks for reading, faving, following and for reviewing. **

**Now, I have to say, like many other Bonkai fans have said, I am so freakin' disappointed in what they chose to do with the character. Kai had so much potential. But we still have fanfiction where anything can happen. And as long as you keep reading, I will keep writing about this couple that could have been so much fun. **

**Answer to reviews: **

**jordanjanellejoy: Thank you. That's sweet. I really liked the idea of everyone putting their differences aside for one day or two days a year to just enjoy each other's company. **

**PracticallyCharmed: Thank you for reviewing. My fans support means a lot. **

**Peace,**

**Jessica**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello, my lovely readers. Sorry about how long it's taken to write a new story but I have like a billion fics. I miss BonKai. Agh! Season 8: Kai returns and he and Enzo compete for Bonnie's affections. ****J**

**The one where Bonnie is a murderous sociopath and Kai is a profiler for the FBI. **

Chapter 5: Cat and Mouse

"Hello, Miss Bennett. How are you today?" Kai asked, adjusting his tie. Usually he felt calm, cool and rational. This would be his hundredth case. It wasn't like he was a rookie. No, he was an all-star. Except for one, all of his cases were closed. The one still open, sitting across from him, with a wide grin.

Bonnie sat back in her seat, watching him like a cat about to pounce but she could do little due to the restraints. Or Kai hoped she couldn't, due to the restraints. Bonnie had been known to keep her victims alive for days before disposing of them. "I'm good. But I'd be _better_ if I could go out. Sunbathe. Drink a beer. Chat with my friends." She smirked when Kai shook his head.

"Bonnie, you _don't_ have any friends," Kai replied slowly. "Those people that you _kept_ in that house. They _weren't_ your friends. Now, I want to know where she _is_," he stated the same question that he always asked.

Grinning, Bonnie titled her head to the side. "Let me out and I'll _show_ you," she told him.

"_Not_ going to happen," Kai replied. Sitting in his seat, he watched her as she began to whistle. Her victims noted that she whistled while she tortured them, making them beg for mercy. "Fine. I'll see you next week," he told her. Getting to his feet, Kai got up and walked toward the door to let the orderly know he was done for the day.

"She misses you, Kai. She says 'Where's my brother? Where's Malachi? He told me he'd come and save me. But he _doesn't_.'" Bonnie taunted him and Kai stiffened when he turned to look down at her. She grinned up at him with such malice that he wondered what could have caused her mind to snap.

"Oh, wait, _no_, I forgot. She couldn't say all of those things. Because I cut her tongue out and fed it to my cat," Bonnie snarled. "Now, let me the hell out of here!"

Rolling his eyes, Kai walked over and leaned over Bonnie. "What kind of sociopath _feels_ anger?" he demanded and Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"I don't know. You tell me," Bonnie retorted, shifting on her seat with a look of contempt.

Sitting back down, Kai watched Bonnie. Something about her profile had always bothered him. Since his first visit with her, he had always suspected that something was off. "_Who_ are you covering for?" he asked her and Bonnie's eyes ticked upward before she sneered at him.

"How did you get your job when you suck at it so badly?" Bonnie mocked him. "Wonder what else you suck at?" she inquired, licking her lips and looking him over.

Having dealt with enough criminals before, Kai did not react to her taunts of harassment. "Bonnie, let's _focus_. Tell me who you're covering for and you can go out and have that beer. Hell, I'll even buy it for you."

Bonnie grinned. "Okay. You've got me. I'm covering for… Mickey Mouse. He and Minnie _really_ have a sadistic streak." Cracking up at her own joke, Bonnie laughed till tears ran down her cheeks.

That was it. Kai slammed his folder closed and got back to his feet. "You're _never_ getting the hell out of here. You hear me, Bennett?" he promised her before going over to hammer a closed fist against the door. The orderly came over and let him out. Kai moved down the hallway at a swift rate, trying to keep images of his twin, bleeding and bruised, in a cell, somewhere, far from his mind.

A week later Kai re-entered Richmond's facility for the criminally insane, where he found Bonnie, contemplating the ceiling. "So, your parents died when you were a teenager, correct?" he asked, slapping a folder on the table and watching Bonnie glance up at him.

"Yup," Bonnie said, popping the P like Damon Salvatore did during his interview after being found in what the news called "Mystic Falls Little House of Horrors." Kai noted each time she emulated her victims. Typical sociopath behavior was to emulate what they did not understand but wanted to fit in.

"And then, your step-brother, Jamie, was found hanging in his room, by you, on a Sunday morning?" Kai continued.

Bonnie looked bored. "Yup," she said, clasping the edges of her chair's arms.

"And your aunt, Lucy, had her throat slit when you were in college," Kai said, reading from a report what he had already memorized. "And your friend, Caroline, had a little trouble with her car and nearly skidded off a mountain top with her boyfriend, Klaus Mikaelson."

"Yes," Bonnie snapped, looking irritable. "_What_? Are you going to list every gruesome little detail of my long history?" she sneered at him. "Let's talk about _you_. How your dad used to kick you around. How your mom didn't care. How your younger brother and sister disappeared one night and no one found them the till the next year at the bottom of a frozen lake. Poor little _Olivia_ and _Luke_. And how your daddy blamed you. 'You were supposed to be watching them, Kai!'" she yelled at him, sounding a lot like his father had. "Sis told me all that and a whole lot more. Your little girlfriend screwed your best friend. You're so broken and no one can fix you. You like to work with people like me because it makes you feel less like a screw up, doesn't it?"

Kai watched Bonnie grin at him. She wanted to piss him off. She wanted him off the case. She knew he was getting to the truth of the matter and it scared her. So he would continue to push until he broke through. He would find Jossete and bring her home to her husband, Alaric, and their twin girls. He couldn't ever give up, not after they lost Liv and Lucas. Never.

"You're _right_, Bonnie. I am a screw up. I am a _lot_ of things. But you know what else I am?" Kai challenged Bonnie while she continued to grin. "I'm able to walk out of here. And, you, you're stuck in _here_."

For a moment, Bonnie's smile faltered and then she laughed, bitterly. "You got me on that one." Glancing at the clock, she turned back to him. "Sorry, Kai, it looks like time is up today. Better luck next time," she taunted him when the orderly opened the door.

Watching Bonnie walk out of the room first, Kai noticed her smile down at him, and he wondered what was actually going through her mind. He left the hospital and went home. Only his mind stayed with Bonnie Bennett. He went to bed and thought of her. His dreams were filled with her words and her lips, opening and closing. Feeling them press to his, Kai woke up in a cold sweat, looking around the room, reaching for his gun.

Once again, he entered the hospital to find Bonnie sitting at a card table. Usually she wasn't allowed out of her room but the doctor had adjusted her medication and said she would not be a threat because she could barely move. Kai walked over to her, watching her cut the deck before swiftly slapping down two sets of hands. "Hello, Kai," she greeted him, never looking up from her work. "Man, it is _good_ to be free of those restraints," she said, winking at him.

Taking a seat across from Bonnie, Kai picked up the cards. "Are we going to play cards or are we going to talk about where my sister is?" he asked.

"How about we play cards. If you win, I'll tell you something you want to know. And if I win, you get _nothing_," Bonnie asked with another slow grin that would have anyone else running.

"Deal." Looking at his cards, Kai asked for another. Bonnie slipped him one.

For a long time they contemplated their cards before Kai placed his down on the table. "Full house," he told her.

"Damn," Bonnie shook her head. "Looks like I have some bad luck," she told him glumly, laying a pair of kings down. Grinning, Kai waited for her piece of information while Bonnie picked up the cards and began to shuffle them. "When I was in college, there were these two girls, Mary Louise and Nora. They were together, and then, one day, poof, they just disappeared. No one tried to find them. They didn't have any family. No one really cared. Not like you, trying to find _poor_ Jo." She smirked at him, sitting back and cutting the card deck.

"Is that a _clue_, Bonnie?" Kai questioned her.

Bonnie shrugged. "Maybe," she said before throwing cards at him.

He picked them up one by one until he had a full hand. He inspected the cards, looking at Bonnie who had a good poker face. "Pair of aces," he said sadly, tossing them over.

Bonnie flipped her cards over. She had nothing. "Two months after Mary Lou and Nora went bye-bye, a freshman named Valerie, an exchange student from south-west London, didn't come to her classes. No one has heard from or seen her since."

Getting the pattern, Kai took the new cards she sent his way. Looking at his new set, he smiled. Three queens and two kings. Bonnie tossed her cards down, without looking at them. "Four months later, a young man named Beau did not arrive at his study date with a fellow sophomore: me." Kai watched Bonnie's jaw tick as she spoke. "Beau had been attacked two years before, his throat cut, his vocal cords damaged. He couldn't speak. He couldn't cry out for help. Easy prey."

The air felt colder when Bonnie threw another set of cards at Kai, her movements more forceful this time around. "I think you're going to win this hand," Kai told her, finding that he had a really bad hand.

Bonnie slapped her hand down on the table. A royal flush. Leaning toward him, propping herself on her elbows, Bonnie began to speak. "One day, on a hot day in June, the twentieth day of the month to be exact, at 12:30 p.m., a young woman went for a walk through a park she had walked through her whole life to clear her hand. She disappeared at 12:35 p.m. Her name was Bonnie Bennett. She was not seen or heard from for _five_ years before she popped up one day like nothing had ever happened."

"That _isn't_ in your file," Kai replied, leaning back in his seat.

"No. It isn't," Bonnie replied, collecting the cards.

"Who took you?" Kai asked her.

Bonnie smirked back at him. "If I told you, I would have to kill you." Laughing, she shook her head. "Kidding. Crazy couple called Lily and Julian. She wanted a family and is still trying to make one." Stopping in her movements, Bonnie waved for Kai to move closer. "They _have_ Jo," she told him. "They make me take them all."

"What?" Kai fell back in his seat, wondering if Bonnie was screwing with him.

Bonnie rolled her eyes and then started throwing cards at him. "Fine. Don't believe me. And you will _never_ find sissy again."

"So what if I do believe you?" Kai demanded, leaning over and whispering to her.

"So you get me the hell out of here," Bonnie hissed back at him. "Take me out in the sunshine. Get me that beer you promised."

"It doesn't work like that," Kai reminded her.

Bonnie shook her head. "You could get a deal to get me out to help you," she snapped. "I didn't kill anyone. They _did_. I was just another victim. The press will have a field day. And you, you'll be the _hero_. Your parents will love you again. Women will throw themselves at you. Everything you could ever want will be laid at your feet. Just get me out of here!"

"Fine. Fine. I'll see what I can do," Kai sat back, his mind racing from possibility to possibility.

It almost seemed too easy when his boss told him he better know what the fuck he was doing letting her out. "If she kills, again, it's your badge or your life," he had snarled.

Kai entered the hospital and found Bonnie sitting in the lobby in a t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants. "Ready to go?" he asked after signing her out.

"Yes!" Bonnie replied eagerly. She grabbed his arm and would not let go until they got into his car. "Oh, a Ferrari. Me likey," she teased, grinning at Kai. This was not the first time he noticed that she had a pretty smile but he tried to ignore it. He just wanted his sister back.

"Can I change before we go to find Lily and her paramour?" Bonnie asked Kai who blew out a long breath.

"Sure," he replied slowly. Honestly, he did not want to waste any more time. He drove to his house in Mystic Falls. Bonnie ran over to sniff the roses that grew beside the front door.

"I missed that scent," Bonnie told him. Kai smiled in spite his misgivings. He unlocked the door and waved for Bonnie to enter. "Nice place," she said, twirling around and taking it all in.

"It's a house," Kai replied shortly. Bonnie smirked at him.

"Shower?" she asked, pulling her t-shirt off and dropping it to the floor before pulling the sweat pants down and kicking the shoes off.

"Upstairs," Kai replied, trying not to stare at her.

Bonnie grinned and then ran up the stairs. He watched her go until she stopped at the top. "You can join if you want," she called to him.

"Yeah. I'm good down here," Kai rubbed the back of his head and wondered if he should go up to make sure she didn't run or get something to kill him with.

Half an hour later, Bonnie bounced back down in one of his white shirts with a black belt cinching it at the waist. "I need a pair of heels to dress this up but beggars can't be choosers." She yanked the pair of sneakers on before looking at Kai. "Okay. So, you might want to call for back-up when we get there," she told him.

"Right," Kai nodded, hoping he wasn't playing lamb to the slaughter when she walked to the door. He followed her out into the warm day and they got into his car. She gave him directions until they ended up twenty miles away, outside a farm house.

Bonnie went in ahead of him. Kai watched her talking to a couple who might be in their forties. The woman embraced Bonnie while the man asked her something, looking at her clothes. He did not seem as impressed when he picked up a rack, about to stab Bonnie through the stomach with it. "Stop! Hands in the air!" Kai yelled at them, hoping that he had given his back-up the right directions. Otherwise, he and Bonnie might not make it out of this alive.

"Not going to happen," the Julian guy yelled, moving toward Kai who shot him in the leg.

Lily screamed and turned to Bonnie who hauled off and slugged her. "That's for feeding me dog food when I was 'bad!'" Bonnie shouted, kicking Lily.

"That's _enough_," Kai yelled at her. He got her anger but he had seen enough violence. Slapping a pair of handcuffs on Julian, he threw a pair to Bonnie who slapped them on Lily with a grin.

Kai jerked Julian to his feet. "Where's my sister?" he demanded.

"Who?" Julian asked with a smile. "There have been _so_ many, I can't keep track of them all."

"She's downstairs. There's a trap door," Bonnie called. Kai forced Julian ahead of him while Bonnie pulled the door open. They walked downstairs to find Jo curled up in a ball, her hair down past her waist, covered in dirt and underfed.

"Kai!" Jo yelled, running toward him and gripping steel bars. Bonnie grabbed a set of keys and unlocked the door.

"I told you I would be back and make them _pay_, didn't I?" Bonnie asked, embracing Jo.

"Thank you!" Jo said to Bonnie, holding onto her while Kai saw the girl in a whole new way.

Bonnie turned and winked at Kai before they went back upstairs. His back-up arrived a minute later, along with his boss. "Good job, Parker." He commended Kai.

"I couldn't have done it without Bonnie," Kai told him.

The next weeks were maddening when there were press conferences and he could barely walk into his home without having the media driving him nuts. Bonnie slept in the guest room, down the hall from his, since she didn't have a place of her own and when he went home to see his parents, she was at his side. Jo thanked Bonnie profusely while Ric said that he owed them his life. His parents told him how proud they were of him and at the end of the night, he kissed Bonnie, for the first time.

A year later, Bonnie suggested that they celebrate their one year anniversary somewhere of her choice. "_Where_ are we going?" Kai asked with a laugh. He wore a blindfold and felt her tugging him forward.

"You'll see," Bonnie whispered. When she pulled off the blindfold, Kai looked around at the twinkling lights in the cabin and grinned before lifting her off her feet. Bonnie began to giggle. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you _more_," Kai whispered back.

"Let's drink to _this_, the beginning of our lives together," Bonnie suggested. She poured out two glasses of champagne while Kai fiddled with the little black box in his pocket. After dinner, he would propose.

Sitting down, Kai yawned while Bonnie came over and stroked his cheek with a warm smile. "Are you _sleepy_, Kai?" she asked in a teasing tone.

"Yes," Kai said as he felt the room begin to tilt and then he dropped to the floor.

Kai woke up and looked around himself. Realizing that there was something wrong, he looked at the handcuffs. "Bonnie! _Bonnie_!" he shouted.

Bonnie came around the corner and looked at him. "Hi, baby, sorry, those must hurt, but I couldn't let you out. You might try to leave. I _hate_ it when they try to leave." She shook her head and Kai noticed that she was looking at a skeleton in the corner. "Look at it this way; we're going to be taking till death do us part to a whole new level. Unlike Enzo, there. He didn't even bother with a ring," She flashed her engagement ring at him with a tender smile before moving toward the steps. "I'll be back later. We might even have company. I wonder what Caroline's up to. I hear she plans weddings now. Wouldn't that be awesome?"

"Bonnie! Bonnie, let me out of _here_!" Kai yelled, jerking on the bars of the cell that she had locked him inside of. "BONNIE!"

The problem with sociopaths is that they can seem so much like anyone else from their close study of others. And as a profiler, Kai should have seen this coming. That is why he told himself that he would never fall in love with a subject, until now.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It was fun to write a kind of horror one-shot while inverting the characters' personalities. ****J**

**Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing. ****J**

**Answers to guest reviews. ****J**

**Melika: Thank you. I will try to write a longer version when I finish out a few other stories. ****J**

**Guest: Thank you. I hope you enjoyed this one, too. ****J**

**Peace, **

**Jessica**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, my lovely readers. It's that time of year again: Halloween and I have a little bit fluffy AU/AH for you as a treat. On with the show…**

Chapter 6: Being Someone Else for a Night

If anyone had told six-year-old Bonnie Bennett that her best friend in the whole world would be that weird kid who ate jam out of the jar, she would have run away in tears. No. Bonnie Bennett and Kai Parker were not destined to be friends. Let alone the best of friends. But the universe has a twisted sense of humor.

"Come out, will ya? I promise, I won't laugh," seventeen-year-old Kai called Bonnie.

Bonnie stood in front of the mirror. Staring at her reflection. She had no body issues. She liked how she looked. Short, petite with curves in all the right places and legs with the muscle definition that came from dancing during cheer practice and modern dance classes. Yup. She looked good in a ridiculous spandex outfit.

When they got to the costume shop twenty minutes ago, Kai insisted she try on the Cat Woman suit. "You'll look smoking,'" he'd insisted.

Taking a deep breath, Bonnie yanked the curtain open, striking a pose in front of Kai who whistled. "You are so hot!" he waved his hand in front of his face while Bonnie grinned. She moved toward him with feline precision and cracked the whip at his feet, making him jump. Grinning, Bonnie moved behind her friend, trailing a long, fake nail along his neck and up his cheek. "Now, that's…umm…Bon Bon…hmmm," Kai cried out when she wrapped the whip around his leg and yanked him to her, hissing in his ear. "Okay. Nice kitty. Down girl."

Kai patted Bonnie on the head while he extracted his long leg from the whip. "You were getting a little too close to very sensitive areas with that thing."

"What, you don't like whips?" Bonnie asked, flicking it at him again but Kai moved out of her reach and she laughed, plopping down in a chair. "Your turn," she called.

"Why do you want me to dress as a doctor again?" Kai called over his shoulder, stepping into the dressing room and sliding the curtain shut.

Bonnie smiled. "Duh. Grey's Anatomy. Doctors are hot!"

"Right," Kai laughed. "Have you made up your mind about which outfit you're going to wear to drive Jeremy Gilbert nuts with?"

Sighing, Bonnie set the whip on the floor. Ever since she decided to put her relationship with Jeremy on hold and he started dating other people, Bonnie began to miss him. Maybe it was just stupid sentimental feelings creeping up. She and Jer had history. They had made sense at the time and she thought she'd always care for him. But now… She felt confused.

"I don't know," Bonnie muttered.

"Huh?" Kai called back, sliding the curtain open. He stepped out in a pair of blue scrubs and a pair of silly Clark Kent glasses. "What do you think? Will the ladies prefer glasses on?" Kai wiggled his eyebrows and then pulled them off. "Or off?"

Bonnie tried to formulate words but her teenage brain could not formulate words. She loved words and reading and words and the sounds that words made when you were making word like noises and all she could think about was Kai. Her Kai. Kai the kid with the mouthful of jam and jam all over his little hand, grinning and awkward as all hell. The first time he tried to dance with her when they were ten and stepping all over her feet. Or the time that someone dared them to kiss when they were thirteen and Kai had aimed for her lips but she did not want her jock crush to see her locking lips with Kai so she moved so his lips landed on her cheek. Or the time that they when they were fifteen they had gone sledding down that hill and he fell on top of her and broke her leg but sat with her in the hospital, bringing her homemade Jell-O and keeping her up to date on all the gossip. Or last year when she broke up with Jeremy for the hundredth time and they sat up and watched chick flicks until midnight and ate ice cream and she cried all over his favorite t-shirt and her grams caught them asleep in each other's arms the next morning. Or the time they got drunk and said I love you but pretended to forget in the morning because they were drunk and it didn't count.

Kai stood, waiting for her answer. "Earth to Bennett, come in, Bennett, it's the Mother Ship calling."

"Glasses off," Bonnie breathed.

"Thanks," Kai said with a grin. "So, you think there's anyone I might have a chance with tonight?"

"Yeah," Bonnie nodded.

"Cool," Kai grinned before going back into the dressing room.

Bonnie got up and began to look through the costumes. She had no idea what she wanted to be that night. But she knew who she wanted to be with. She just didn't know if he felt the same. "Hey, kid, you buying that or advertising it?" the manager asked her.

"She could. She looked pretty damned good in it. And you'd be damned lucky to have her," Kai called, coming to stand at her side, back in his usual jeans and t-shirt with a throw-back to the eighties jacket on.

Smiling, Bonnie looked up at him. "Thanks," she said.

"You're welcome," Kai patted her shoulder. "I'm going to pay for this." He held up the pair of scrubs.

"Cool. I'm going to go change." Bonnie slipped into the dress she'd worn earlier in the day. Fashionably cute and fun, flirty. Typical Bonnie Bennett material. What if she wanted to be someone tonight? Maybe she wanted to be someone else tonight. Not the homecoming queen or the cheerleader.

Caroline Forbes, Bonnie's friend and captain on the cheer squad, was hosting the annual Halloween party at her boyfriend, Klaus Mikaelson's house. Also an odd pairing. Klaus the artist, who didn't care what anyone thought and Caroline the perky cheerleader, who cared about what everyone thought, 'til she met Klaus. Then all bets were off.

Bonnie had agreed to meet Kai at the party and hoped he'd like what she was wearing. Tugging at the black turtle neck, she noticed people giving her long looks and whispering to each other behind their cupped hands. Some even giggled when she stepped past them. This must have been what it was like for Kai for most of his life. The outcast. The weirdo. The loner. But Kai wore it well. He knew who he was and liked who he was.

The door stood mere feet away. Bonnie could go home. She could get the Cat Woman suit from the shop before they closed and come back, tell everyone the earlier costume she had worn was on a dare from Damon Salvatore. Typical Damon, screwing with people just because he could. People would believe it faster than they would believe that Bonnie Bennett chose to come out in public in this…this outfit.

Gathering her courage, Bonnie walked up to the door and knocked. Klaus' sister, Rebekah, answered and let out a snicker. "Oh, dear, did Damon do that to you?"

"No," Bonnie replied levelly, pushing past Rebekah whose jaw dropped.

Caroline stood in the middle of the room and grinned when she saw Bonnie. "Oh, my God! Bonnie, I'd never recognize you in a million years."

"And what are you?" Bonnie inquired.

Caroline grinned, showing vampire fangs. "Buffy the Vampire who's also a slayer." She held up a piece of fence post.

"Where's Klaus?" Bonnie inquired.

"Drinking someone's blood," Caroline replied and then giggled. She'd obviously had one too many already.

"I'll see ya," Bonnie called when she spotted a pair of blue scrubs on the other side of the room. She snuck up behind Kai and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hi," Bonnie said when he turned and took a double-take at her outfit. "What do you think?" she asked him, spinning for him to take in the full effect.

"You do eighties goth well, Miss Bennett," Kai grinned down at her. "And how did you know that Allison Reynolds was my favorite Breakfast Club kid?"

"Not a clue," Bonnie shook her head. "Do you want to dance?" she asked him.

Kai grinned at her. "Are you sure you're not afraid I'll step on your feet again?"

"Nope," Bonnie held out a hand to him, leading him to the dance floor as the song changed to a slow one and Caroline held two thumbs up and winked. Bonnie might kill for being that obvious but Kai seemed clueless and he slid his arms around her waist and she slid her arms around his neck.

"Not bad. So far I've kept my feet to myself," Kai remarked.

Bonnie smirked at him. "The night is young."

"That's true. I'm still trying to figure out how to trick one of these girls into kissing me." Kai looked around at the other girls in the room.

Bonnie sucked in a deep breath. "Close your eyes and I'll find a girl to kiss," she told him.

"Really?" Kai gave her a look like he thought she was screwing with him.

"Seriously," Bonnie crossed her fingers over her heart.

"Okay. But you better not make me kiss an iguana like last time," Kai warned her.

"When will you let that go," Bonnie cried as Kai closed his eyes. He dropped his arms from her waist and Bonnie sucked in another long breath before exhaling. Grabbing Kai's cheeks, she pulled him down to her level and kissed him. She put everything she had felt in the costume shop into the kiss and everything she had been afraid to feel for the past twelve years in case it ruined everything. Love. How to say "I am in love with you" in a kiss.

When they parted, Kai's eyes stayed closed for a couple of seconds before he opened them and stared down at Bonnie. He pursed his lips. "Wow. That was everything I thought it would be and a whole lot more."

"So you don't mind it was me?" Bonnie felt the tension in her body dissolve at his words.

"I've been waiting to kiss you since I realized that girls weren't full of cooties. Being around you all the time and not kissing you, holding you, watching you date and flirt with other guys; it made me a little crazy. But if I got to spend a single minute with you, that was better than a million without you. So, yeah, I don't mind. Would you mind if I kissed you back?"

Bonnie shook her head and Kai pulled her off her feet, kissing her 'til they couldn't breathe and then set her on her feet again. "I think we have a lot of making up for lost time to do."

"Okay," Kai nodded, leaning down and kissing her again while couples danced around them and Bonnie didn't care they were going to be Mystic Falls' newest odd couple. All she cared about was remembering that Halloween would be their anniversary each year and she kind of loved this holiday.

**Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing. **

**Answer to guest reviews: **

**Guest: Happy birthday a really long time after the fact. I hope you enjoy this one-shot, too! **

**Peace,**

**Jessica**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, my lovely readers. Since the last chapter was fluff this one will be hurt-comfort/angst celebrating Thanksgiving with a little social awareness. On with the show…**

Chapter 7: I'm Thankful for You

The room of the church basement wasn't that big. Kai had been in much larger ones. Back in Los Angeles, Tucson, Albuquerque, Dallas, New Orleans, Biloxi, Memphis, Roanoke, Chicago, Lafayette, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, which brought him to the sleepy town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, the smallest town he'd stayed in his entire life.

When Kai was thirteen, he got sick of his family—who had been sick of him and his "anti-social" behavior for a far longer time—and he took off. As far as Kai knew, his so-called family hadn't even bothered to file a missing person's report. Legally, they were supposed to. But people could turn a blind eye to almost anything. And most people who had met Kai would probably be relieved to hear that he'd just up and walked off one day, never to return.

Walking to the end of a line for a hot meal, Kai glanced up to see a pretty girl talking to a couple of other girls. They were probably all about the same age. Grew up together. Went to elementary, middle, high schools and then college. They talked all the time. This was their one or two days a year that they came to this kitchen, dressed up in its Thanksgiving best, fake leaves taped to the walls, happy looking fake turkeys sitting on the tables as centerpieces, the real birds probably screamed in pain to feed them and their fellow brethren.

Kai watched the girl as she offered an older woman in a coat that was one size too big for her her meal for the day. Yup. The smile the girl offered the woman told Kai how clueless she was about the woman's life. If she knew what the woman would be doing tomorrow to get food; she wouldn't be smiling.

"Bonnie, hurry up!" the blonde girl cried, pulling out her cell phone. "We're going to be late." She looked unhappy as she looked at her phone and then shoved it back in her back pocket. Her expression changed when she turned to Kai. "Hi! Happy Thanksgiving," she said chirpily, placing a tray in front of Kai.

The brunette between the blonde and the girl Kai wanted to stand in front of, flushed, rolling her eyes at her blonde friend before placing mashed potatoes on Kai's plate. "Would you like gravy on these?" the girl asked him, looking up at him with large brown eyes. Man, she would be eaten alive if she ever had to live the way he did.

Kai offered Bambi a winning smile and adjusted his knit cap over his hair. "Gravy's fine. Thanks," he told her.

The blonde shot the brunette a look, a smile appearing on her face. "Someone's got a crush," the blonde said as Kai moved his tray further down the aisle.

"Caroline, shut up," the brunette hissed. "You're being rude."

"Am not. And he's kind of cute. Once you get him in a bath, he probably cleans up really well and then you can dump Salvatore on his ass." Caroline let out a giggle.

"Guys, cut it out," the girl Kai wanted to look at, warned her friends, waving a ladle at them.

"Sorry, Bonnie," the two girls called before getting into another argument.

Bonnie sighed before turning to Kai. "Hi. I hope my friends aren't ruining your Thanksgiving. I talked them into coming down here," she told him. "And this one has been a blabbermouth since we were six and the other one is taking after her boyfriend."

"Bonnie!" the two girls cried, their eyes widening.

"Sorry, Care, Lena, but you know I'm right." Bonnie poured cranberry sauce onto his plate.

"That's okay. I haven't really been able to watch much TV lately," Kai retorted grinning at Bonnie who let out an amused laugh. Her eyes lit up and he could only stand there, staring at her and feeling awkward. He didn't really like people—in general—but he liked this girl. He wanted to continue talking to her but the guy next to him kept glaring. He'd been on the wrong side of too many people's fists this week so he thought it would be better to go. Keep this as the one happy moment for the year.

Chuckling, Kai walked over to the table, picking the place where no one seemed to want to sit. He faced the rest of the people in the room with a view of the lunch line. Bonnie continued to serve people with her enthusiastic smile and her friends continued to argue. It really was a great show.

After two hours, Kai got up to get a refill of coffee and felt startled when a hand came down on the arm of his old army jacket which was probably made in the sixties. You'd think the thing would be torn to pieces but it wore incredibly well and kept him warm through the colder months.

"Yeah?" Kai glanced at the hand. The nice hand that belonged to the girl that made his heart skip a beat for a moment.

"Hi. We're serving pie now and I thought I'd bring you a slice," Bonnie said. "That way you can go back to watching the 'show.'" She grinned and Kai felt embarrassed that she knew he'd been watching her and her friends like some kind of creepy stalker. The problem was that he could easily begin stalking this girl if she kept treating him like a person rather than a disease like most people treated them.

Bonnie held out a plate with pumpkin pie toward him. "Here," she said.

"I can't." Kai shook his head, holding up a hand.

Bonnie's eyebrows rose. "Are you on a diet? Come on, it's Thanksgiving; live a little."

Kai continued to shake his head. "I'm not touching that pie unless you agree to eat a slice with me," he folded his arms over his chest and watched Bonnie's mouth open. He could see the wheels in her head spinning.

"I would really like to do that but my friends have this whole tradition and they'll kill me if I don't help them clean up and get out of here," Bonnie gave Kai an apologetic look, placing a hand on his arm again. He'd die happy if she'd keep touching him. He stopped his impulse to place her hand over his heart so she could feel how quickly it beat every time she touched him.

"Right. Well, have great night, Bonnie," Kai said, nodding and striding away with his steaming cup of coffee. He did want the pie but he wanted her company more.

Checking the clock every couple of minutes, Kai wondered what would happen if he grabbed Bonnie and took off with her. They wouldn't get far. He didn't have car. But he could steal one. Then again, kidnapping, plus abduction would add up to the electric chair or life in prison. Kai thought Bonnie might be worth all of that and worse.

He continued to watch the clock. His father thought he was worthless, just another mouth to feed with a disagreeable tongue. His twin sister couldn't stand him because he liked to stick it out. His younger siblings thought he was a freak. No one got him. Bonnie would. If she were willing to stay with him for awhile. But if he took her against her will, she'd never get the chance, he'd just be the freak who took her from her friends and her family.

"Hey!" Bonnie's chipper voice sounded over the noise of other people's conversations. She held two slices of pie. "Can you get me a cup of coffee since my hands are full?"

Kai shot to his feet. He almost tripped himself, never remembering being so clumsy in his whole life. "Yeah. Sure. Anything else?" he asked her. She had come. She had come to him of her own free will. Was it sign from the universe that she wanted to go with him and they could drift from place to place, seeing all the big cities the US had to offer before heading up to Canada?

"Nope. I think we're good. Although I do like sugar in my coffee. The real stuff, not the Sweet &amp; Low." Bonnie looked up at him, placing a fork on his side of the table.

Kai felt his heart doing a happy dance in his chest and only stopped when he caught sight of Bonnie's friends eyeing him skeptically. If he took Bonnie with him, they'd file a report. They cared. They might even try to find them on their own. They would even give the cops his exact description. No, this was not an early Christmas gift given to him by a mysterious but benevolent Santa.

Pouring out the cup of coffee, Kai tried not to let his gloomy thoughts kill the mood. When was the last time he'd been on a date? Oh, right, never. This would be a first. Coffee with a girl. She had to be about four or maybe five years younger than he was. He turned twenty-six months ago. Too old to be on his first date, not old enough to control his desire to smile like an idiot about it.

He walked as calmly as he could back to the table where Bonnie sat, not playing with her phone like so many people of their generation, checking her favorite social media site for updates. She sat, her back to him, rocking her foot back and forth. "Hey!" Kai called to her. "Here is your coffee and your real sugar," he handed her the coffee cup, feeling a thrill going through him when her fingers brushed his. She took the cup in one hand and he placed the packets of sugar in her other hand, grazing her palm and wanting to kiss her fingertips.

This just felt like too much. Kai had never been this lucky. "So, what made you change your mind?" he asked her, trying to sound normal, like he had coffee with women all the time.

"Well, I hate to say this, but my friends' Thanksgiving celebration is kind of lame and it usually ends with my friend, Caroline, getting into a fight with Elena, my other friend's boyfriend, Damon, who is also one of my friends. And I don't like taking sides. So, here I am, avoiding that. And, bonus, I get to talk to the guy who refused pie if I wouldn't have coffee with him. Funny pick up line but it seemed to work in your favor." Bonnie smirked at him, taking a sip from her cup.

Kai felt his mouth go dry. "I don't have a lot of experience. You don't get to have coffee with many girls when you're picking up and moving around as much as I do."

"Where are you from?" Bonnie asked him.

Bonnie seemed genuinely interested, not like she was trying to be polite. "I'm from Portland. But that was long time ago."

"Portland. That's all the way across the country. How long ago was that?" Bonnie continued to watch him.

Kai blew out a breath. "Let's see, I took off when I was thirteen and have been living on the streets for…thirteen years. Wow! That's a long time." He smiled and Bonnie's smile froze on her lips.

"You ran away from home?" Bonnie's concern touched a part of Kai that he thought died a long time ago.

"Yup," Kai nodded, picking up his cup of coffee, playing with it, not wanting to make eye contact. "There's lots of us. You wouldn't believe how many kids I met over the years who took off because of abuse or neglect or not being able to deal with whatever shit they had to deal with from this screwed up society." Kai stopped himself. He hoped he didn't cause Bonnie to take off. It was nice having company. He liked her. He wanted her to stay with him.

"I know. I've watched the news," Bonnie said, her eyes on a wall. "And there have been kids who took off from my town and never came home. It's like one of those secrets that people don't want to talk about but they really need to stop acting like those kids never existed." She grew quiet.

"Did you know someone who took off?" Kai asked her, placing his hand over hers on the table top.

"Yeah." Bonnie's eyes pooled with tears. "My high school boyfriend, Jeremy. He's Elena's little brother. He was going through a rough patch after his parents died, started doing drugs: ecstasy and pot. I thought that I'd gotten through to him. And then one day, he just up and took off. We didn't know where he'd gone. And one day…one day they found him in New York where he'd joined up with this so-called artist's colony. They weren't artists, they were dealing and using stolen art to cover it up. Jeremy had OD'd. That was three years ago. It's still a sore subject for Elena. She works with troubled youths now."

"And what do you do?" Kai asked.

Bonnie blew out a breath. "I try to remember to live my life because I don't know what's next. And I try to keep people from disappearing if they seem like they're in trouble."

Kai felt Bonnie's eyes boring into him and he laughed. "You think I'm disappearing?"

Bonnie tipped her head to the side. "I don't know? Why don't you tell me?"

"Are you some kind of shrink?" Kai asked her.

Bonnie smiled. "First year med school, trying to work on my psych degree."

"Ah. So I'm a case." Kai got to his feet. If life seemed too good, it probably was. He grabbed his plate and cup before looking down at Bonnie. "It was nice meeting you, Bonnie."

"You didn't tell me your name," Bonnie called after him.

"Have a Happy Thanksgiving," Kai called back to her. He dumped his plate and cup, buried his hands in his pockets and walked out of the room. He headed up the steps and listened to the heavy door swing closed behind him.

On his way across the parking lot, Kai heard the sound of running footsteps behind him. Someone looking for someone else. "Wait!" Bonnie's voice sounded from behind him.

Sighing, Kai turned on his heel to find Bonnie, still in her tank top and long sleeved shirt, running toward him. "Just take this. Please!" she begged him, shivering and her teeth began to chatter in the cold.

"Fine," Kai glanced at the card which didn't say anything but had a handwritten phone number on it. "What is it?"

Bonnie smiled. "That's my cell number. If you ever want to stop being alone."

Kai nodded and shoved the card into his jeans' pocket. Bonnie gave him another smile that made him feel warm despite the November cold. She turned away from him, heading back to the church when he called after her. "Kai!" he yelled.

"What?" Bonnie looked confused, her eyebrows scrunching together and he resisted the urge to cross the distance, take her in his arms and kiss her.

"My name is Kai Parker!" Kai replied.

Bonnie called to him. "It's nice to meet you, Kai. Call me and let me know you're okay!"

"Promise," Kai waved and watched her walk away. Maybe he didn't have to take her away from her life. Maybe she could make him part of hers and he'd have a home to come to next Thanksgiving. Whistling, he turned on his heel, walking down the street as it began to snow.

**Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing. **

**Peace, **

**Jessica**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello, my lovely readers. This was supposed to be up for the holidays but I got sick so we're behind schedule. I hope you enjoy this fluffy, de-aged one-shot. On with the show…**

Chapter 8: Merry Christmas, Bonnie Bennett

"Do we _have_ to?" Bonnie cried, puckering her bottom lip out. She looked up at her Grams through wide, disappointed eyes.

"Child, it's _important_," Shelia said, patting Bonnie's tiny hand. Bonnie's head drooped downward. Her hands were clamped to the kitchen counter but now fell to her sides. Sometimes being five sucked.

Bonnie trudged into the living room where her friends sat on the rug, watching _Frosty_ _the_ _Snow_ _Man_. "Agh! It's the Abominable Snow Man!" Caroline shrieked, wrapping her arms around Elena's neck and nearly strangling their friend.

"We need to go find a tree," Bonnie told her friends.

Caroline looked at Elena. "_Why_?" she asked, turning back to Bonnie.

Elena nodded. "There's a tree at my house. You can come there later."

Bonnie folded her arms over her chest. "It's _not_ Christmas without a tree in _my_ house."

Caroline nodded. "That's _true_." Getting to her feet, she walked over to the closet to get her coat. She pulled out Bonnie's and Elena's, too, because Caroline liked to be in charge. "Miss Shelia, we're going outside to play," Caroline shouted, her voice carrying through the house.

"Be back in an hour," Shelia called to them, peering around the corner and Bonnie gave her an innocent smile.

Buttoning up her coat, Bonnie walked behind Elena, with Caroline in the lead. The three tiny girls left Bonnie's Grams' and walked into the cold, December day. "_Where_ do we go?" Elena asked.

"I don't know. But we'll figure it out," Caroline enthused.

Bonnie took Elena's right hand and Caroline's left and they headed down the sidewalk in search of Christmas trees. Four blocks away, Mrs. Salvatore's car appeared. "Hi, girls," she called, waving to them.

"Hi, Mrs. Salvatore," Elena waved back. Bonnie rolled her eyes and glared at Damon who stuck his tongue out at her.

"What are you up to?" Mrs. Salvatore asked.

"We're Christmas tree hunting," Caroline told her, rocking on her heels and smiling at the adult.

Mrs. Salvatore smiled back. "You're in luck. I was about to go get a replacement tree, after a certain someone knocked ours down and set it on fire."

Damon folded his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes. "It was an eyesore!" the eight-year-old snapped, elbowing Stefan who shoved him.

"Boys, _stop_!" Mrs. Salvatore snapped. "Damon, come ride up front, with me. Girls, you can ride with us."

Stefan shoved the back door open and Elena, Caroline and Bonnie got in. Elena smiled at Stefan who blushed before turning her attention to Damon who smirked at her. Bonnie let out a groan of disgust. Her friend's taste in boys made her grossed out. "We're going to have Christmas cookies at my house, Lena," Stefan said.

"_Everyone_ has Christmas cookies at _everyone's_ house, Stefan," Caroline snapped, kicking Damon's seat.

"Don't kick my seat, Blondie!" Damon yelled, turning around in his seat.

"Damon, turn around!" Mrs. Salvatore snapped.

"You're _stupid_!" Caroline yelled at Damon.

"I'm going to knock you over like that _ugly_ tree!" Damon threatened, trying to get to Caroline while his mother had to restrain him.

Bonnie moved away from her friends in the Christmas tree lot. She looked at huge trees with three numbers on the tags. Her grams wouldn't pay that much for a tree no matter how much Bonnie begged her to. Seeing a sad, little tree, off to the side, she moved toward it. Damon would call it a "Charlie Brown tree" and probably try to destroy it but Bonnie wouldn't let him. There were only two numbers on the tag. Ten dollars. Grams wouldn't mind that.

"What are you _doing_?" a voice demanded.

"I'm going to _buy_ this tree," Bonnie replied, turning to find herself face-to-face with a boy who towered over her. He was probably Damon's age but he was taller than Damon, taller than most of the boys she knew. His lips quirked into a smile that made Bonnie's hands tremble but she would not let this strange boy intimidate her.

"You're a baby, you _can't_ buy anything," the boy informed her, folding his arms over his chest and leaning closer to her. "What are you: _three_?"

"I'm _five_!" Bonnie yelled, placing her hands on her hips and jutting her chin out.

The boy let out a laugh. His eyes sparkled with amusement. "You're feisty for a _little_ girl."

"I don't like you," Bonnie spat before going to take hold of her tree to drag it away. The tree was just a little bit taller than she was, she could do this.

"Hey!" the boy grabbed the tree at the same time she did. "Does this tree have your name on it?" he demanded.

"No. But it's _mine_ anyway. Get off!" Bonnie yelled, trying to pull the tree away but he was stronger and they would just kill the poor thing, so she didn't try too hard.

Damon came over. "Bennett, what's up with the _ugly_ tree? Did you watch _Charlie_ _Brown_ too many times?" His eyes got all squinty and Bonnie gritted her teeth. As usual, Damon had to come to make a bad situation really bad.

"_Go_ _away_, Damon!" Bonnie cried.

Damon looked at the other boy. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"Kai Parker!" Kai replied with a smile. "My family made me come to this _nonexistent_ town to have a "real" holiday experience when we could be in Denver skiing."

"Man, would I love to be in Maui, riding a wave," Damon sighed. "Damon Salvatore!" he held out a hand and Kai took it.

Bonnie took advantage of the boys bonding and grabbed her tree. She made a run for it, dragging her tree along with her as fast as her little legs could go. Of course, Kai caught up with her, moving to stand in her way. "Not so fast, Bennett," he snapped. "I _already_ paid for that tree."

"_What_?" Bonnie felt her eyes fill with tears. "But I _love_ it. And you're _mean_. You'll set it on fire or do something _awful_ to it. I just _know_ you will." She began to cry, hugging the tree like she would her favorite doll.

"Bonnie, it's _just_ a tree," Damon pointed out. "There's much cooler ones around here."

"I want this _one_," Bonnie mumbled, wiping her tears away with the sleeve of her coat.

"It's _mine_," Kai told her.

Caroline and Elena came running toward them. "What's going on?" Elena asked, coming to stand beside Damon when Stefan came running out from a bunch of huge trees. "Ha! I found you! You're _it_!" he cried, smacking Caroline's arm.

"Ouch!" Caroline turned around and smacked Stefan on the shoulder before turning back to the drama. "Who _made_ Bonnie cry? _Damon_!" she shouted, stomping over and pushing Damon.

"I _didn't_ do it!" Damon snapped, pushing Caroline back who fell on her butt and started crying.

"What is going on _here_?!" Mrs. Salvatore's voice rang through the air.

Elena began to cry and the boys looked guilty. Well, Damon and Stefan looked guilty and Kai looked bored. "Bonnie, honey, what are you doing with that tree? Why don't we find you a nicer one?"

"No! I want this _one_!" Bonnie screamed, she felt her cheeks burning as hot tears ran down them.

"It's _mine_. I _paid_ for it, Bonnie," Kai stated while Bonnie glared at him.

Mrs. Salvatore looked tired. "Bonnie, I'm sorry, but if he paid for it, it's _his_. We'll find you _another_ one."

"But I want this _one_," Bonnie moaned, looking sadly at the tree that would be going to a bad home with a bad boy to care for it.

"Bonnie," Mrs. Salvatore held out her hand.

Bonnie let go of her tree. "No matter what, I love you," she whispered to the tree before walking away from it.

Grams took Bonnie's hand and led her up the walk to the Salvatore's house like she did every year. Bonnie didn't want to go this year. Lily made her give away her tree and Damon was being meaner than usual. Grams knocked on the door and Lily answered it. "Shelia, come in," she said warmly, waving for them come in.

Bonnie took off in search of her friends. Elena sat on a couch in the great room, eating a cookie. Caroline stood over a table, studying some sort of chart with Klaus Mikaelson, the new kid, while Stefan came to sit down beside Elena who kept looking around.

"And we can optimize our gift-getting potential this year by asking our parents for extra stuff the day before Christmas," Caroline stated to anyone who was listening.

"Which is _today_," Klaus said, watching Caroline with a smirk.

"What does _optimize_ mean?" Stefan asked.

Caroline shrugged. "Someone said it on TV," she told him.

"Oh," Stefan nodded.

"Let's work the parents," Tyler cried, coming to kneel beside the table, examining the chart. "I hear that sometimes moms and dads try to kill each other over our toys."

"Sounds cool to me," Klaus said.

Caroline frowned at Klaus. "There is something _fund-a-mental-ly_ _wrong_ with you," she told him.

"What does funda-whatsit mean?" Stefan cried.

"She heard it on TV," Elena said. "Where's _Damon_?" She got up and wandered off with Stefan chasing her.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. She went over to sit on a couch. She wanted her tree and to not have to spend Christmas with people other than her Grams, Lena and Care.

Matt came over. "Hot cocoa?" he asked, holding out a second mug to her.

"Thanks, Matt," Bonnie said, smiling at him.

Matt shrugged. "No problem. I'm going to play outside with Jer. We're making a snow mail man and a dog to chase him. Want to help?"

"No thanks," Bonnie shook her head.

Caroline and Klaus began to argue about where to send their parents for last minute gift buying. Grams and Lily came in with more cookies. Tyler joined the argument and said that they should go to New York and hit the real stores.

The doorbell rang and Lily left the room to return a couple of minutes later. "Bonnie, it's for _you_," she told Bonnie.

Bonnie frowned. Getting up, she walked out of the room and to the front door. That Kai kid stood, wearing a wide smile. "Hey!" he called.

"What do _you_ want?" Bonnie snapped, folding her arms over her purple party dress.

"I'm sorry for being mean. It's Christmas. And my dad's a jerk and I hate my family." Kai paused, staring at some point above the door.

"_And_?" Bonnie felt confused.

"And I _don't_ have anywhere else to go because my family doesn't want me around and it was _really_ easy to find this place 'cause everyone knows everyone and I was hoping you'd be here 'cause I have a _gift_ for _you_." Kai rambled on before coming to an abrupt halt.

"Rabies?" Bonnie asked him with a smirk.

Kai blinked at her. "Oh, _yeah_, I get it, 'cause I'm a vicious dog. Nice one. Okay. _Right_. _No_. _Not_ _rabies_. _Better_ than that."

Bonnie just narrowed her eyes at him. "A rabid puppy?"

"No!" Kai rolled his eyes. "You're making me look like the _nice_ one. And you should stop being _so_ mean to me, 'cause you're _going_ to _like_ this."

"Whatever," Bonnie said, tossing her curls over her shoulder like Caroline did sometimes, acting like the older girls they knew.

Kai moved to the side and then he reappeared, holding her tree and moving forward with it. Bonnie had to move backward—rapidly—to avoid getting smacked by one of the pine needles. "_See_? I brought our tree for you."

"_Our_ tree?" Bonnie scoffed, following Kai.

"Where do I put it?" Kai asked her, moving toward the great room. "I hear people in _there_."

"In there's fine," Bonnie told him, following him into the great room, "Watch the step," she said, too late. Kai and the tree fell down. "Oh, _no_!" Bonnie cried, fearing he'd killed it.

"It's Bonnie's _ugly_ tree!" Damon called, coming in behind them in a Santa Claus costume.

Everyone turned to look at the tree and Kai on top of it. "Hi!" Kai called.

"What is that _thing_?" Tyler asked.

"It's a Kai," Damon told him.

"No, not _him_, _that_?" Tyler cried, pointing at Bonnie's tree.

"It's our tree," Kai said, getting up and dusting himself off. He and Bonnie accessed the tree for damage.

"Aren't you a little _young_ to be having a tree with someone?" Grams called, sipping her hot cocoa and eyeing Kai.

Kai grinned at her. "You must be Mrs. Bennett. I'm Kai. Bonnie's told me _so_ much about you," he said, walking over and holding out his hand.

Lily and Grams began to laugh and Kai shrugged, turning to Lily. "My family hates me, can I _stay_ _here_?"

"Could you please repeat that?" Lily looked confused.

"He's an orphan. Can we _keep_ him?" Damon called, coming to stand beside Kai and wrapping his arm around Kai shoulders. "I _always_ wanted a brother."

"Hey!" Stefan yelled.

Bonnie ignored them, patting her little tree and smiling at it. She walked over to the giant Salvatore tree and removed some tinsel and placed it on her tree to make it cheerful. "I love you," she told it.

"It loves you, too," Kai told her.

"What are you _still_ doing here?" Bonnie asked him.

Kai grinned at her. "Mrs. Salvatore is adopting me."

"_No_, she's _not_." Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"For the holiday," Kai amended.

Bonnie sighed before turning around hugging him. "Thank you!" Then she turned to join her friends.

"Damon! _Where_ are the presents?" Stefan screamed, his face turning redder and redder. Bonnie had just arrived on Christmas Day with her Grams, Caroline, her mom, Elena, Jeremy, their parents, Tyler, Matt and Klaus. Stefan looked enraged. Lily stood by the fireplace, eyeing her sons.

"I _didn't_ do it!" Damon said, shaking his head, his long Santa beard flying back and forth.

"Yes, you _did_. If dad was here, he'd _make_ you tell!" Stefan shouted.

"Dad's _dead_, stupid!" Damon yelled back.

"Damon!" Lily cried.

"Just tell us where they _are_, Damon!" Caroline called from her mother's side.

"I didn't do it," Damon grumbled, kicking the rug.

Kai looked at Bonnie and smiled, waving. "Hey, Bon Bon."

"Don't call me _that_," Bonnie snapped when Kai came over and took her hand.

"If you're nice to me, I'll tell you a _secret_," Kai whispered in her ear.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Fine."

Kai tugged her out of the room and into the kitchen. "They're buried in the backyard."

"What?" Bonnie felt confused.

"Damon buried the presents in the backyard. With Caroline," Kai told her.

"Caroline _hates_ Damon," Bonnie retorted, shaking her head.

"But she _likes_ extra presents. If all the presents are gone, then she gets more." Kai reasoned and Bonnie shook her head again.

"Why did Damon do it?" Bonnie asked him.

"'Cause he's playing the Grinch." Kai led her out of the room and they went out the back door. He pushed snow away to reveal a burial ground. Digging, he pulled out a box. "This one is for you," he said.

Bonnie looked at the tag. "From _you_?" she stared at Kai.

"It's nothing special," he told her, shrugging.

Bonnie opened the little box. Inside was a handmade ornament. Holding it up, Bonnie examined the tiny paper Christmas tree. It looked like their tree and she smiled. "I got you something, too," she told him.

"What is it?" he asked.

Bonnie leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Did you _like_ it?" she asked him.

Kai grinned. "Best Christmas _ever_."

"We should cover these back up," Bonnie said and Kai helped her cover the presents.

The day after Christmas, Bonnie went back to the Salvatores with her family and friends. Caroline danced around the room in her new dress, purchased at an after-Christmas sale since her presents had disappeared, too. Stefan strummed a guitar that Damon had dug up. Elena toyed with a necklace that Damon had given her, that he'd stolen from the Mikaelson's, with Klaus' help. Tyler and Matt were playing with a puppy that Ty's parents bought him because his presents had disappeared the night before Christmas.

Bonnie stood, looking at her Christmas tree and its one little ornament. Kai had to go home with his parents but she was going to write to him. They planned on getting a new Charlie Brown tree next year, too, and every year after.

**Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing. **

**Guest: Thank you so much! I'm trying to work on writing BonKai holiday themed stories so we'll have BonKai about once a month and if there isn't a holiday, I'll just write one anyway. **

**Peace, **

**Jessica**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello, my lovely readers. We're still a little bit behind schedule—let's rewind the clock and celebrate one more time! On with the show…**

Chapter 9: Cliché New Year's Eve

Kai Parker wandered aimlessly. He hadn't really made any specific plans once he'd arrived in Paris. Just be that guy. The one who's far from home and took a year's worth of French and decides to go for New Year's, although all he can say is "J'aime turkey." Hell, he doesn't even know the French word for turkey, or if there is a French word for turkey. Do the French have turkeys?

Contemplating the existence of a French turkey and whether it would gobble different or walk different or smoke or… Holy shit! Kai stops in the middle of a sidewalk. A German curses him when he runs into him. Hey, at least he's not the only tourist. People from all over the world are here. And _that_ girl. The one in the shorts with the plaid shirt wrapped around her waist and looking even more lost than he is.

His feet do the walking and his mouth will make words at this gorgeous girl who should not exist in reality. "J'aime turkey," he says with a wide smile. Inwardly he thinks of ways to kill himself. He could go to the top of the Eiffel Tower and jump. That sounded so freakin' stupid.

"Excuse me?" the girl says, glancing up from her book.

His eyes flick down to it. It's a dictionary. Oh, thank God. "You're _American_!" Kai cries, grabbing her by the shoulders and she tenses up, her entire body becoming a spring, ready to bounce away from him. He'd always had problems with boundaries.

"Umm…" the girl stares up at Kai and he sees her fear. She, like he, is on unfamiliar ground, and having strangers grab you is on the wanted list.

"Sorry. I'm Kai." Holding out his hand, Kai tries to be cool. Tries to be suave.

The girl looks at him for a long moment before holding out her own hand. "Bonnie," she says, giving his hand a quick shake before pulling back. "You're American, too?"

"Yeah. First time here?" Kai asks.

Bonnie nods. "Yes. Here for a holiday. With friends, who are around here…some where." She looks around like her friends might show up to rescue her, from him, Kai. Did he seem threatening to her?

Kai nods, acting like he's looking for her friends, although he has no idea what they look like. All he wants to do is take her hand and lead her to a café where they can chill. "What do they look like?"

"Damon's has black hair, blue eyes, likes to wear leather jackets. Caroline's blonde, blue eyed, cheerleader type, you know, perky. Unless she's with Damon. Then she's _probably_ grumpy. Well, they're probably _both_ pissed off that I got lost. They don't get along that well," Bonnie said as she stood on tip-toe, trying to see around a group of Japanese tourists.

"So why are they here, _together_?" Kai asked her.

Bonnie glanced at him. "They're _not_ together. They're here, with me. They're my best friends in the whole world. And they're taking a break from their own relationship drama, so we're here, doing a 'Friend's Holiday' is what Care calls it. We were supposed to each find a stranger to kiss for New Year's. _Care's_ idea."

Kai grinned. "Any specific qualities you're looking for in this stranger that you're going to kiss?" he teased.

Now he had Bonnie's full attention. "Oh. Wow! Are you _hitting_ _on_ me, _right_ _now_?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest. "I just told you that I can't find my friends and you're using _this_ as opportunity to try to hook up with me?"

Kai chuckled. "Hey, Bonnie, _you're_ the one who started talking about kissing strangers. I'm just following a logical progression of thought."

Bonnie scoffed. "It is 1:25 in the afternoon. We're nowhere near midnight and by the time midnight rolls around, I highly doubt you and I will be breathing the same air." She turned her back on him and began to walk away.

His feet would not move for a long time as Bonnie began to disappear. Then his instincts kicked in and Kai wove his way toward her, his longer legs making quick work to attain his goal. "Bonnie!" he called, catching her wrist.

"You!" Bonnie groaned, whirling around to face him. "Why can't you get a clue and _go_ _away_?"

Kai turned her around in a full circle and pointed a long finger toward a street corner where a black haired man and cute blonde stood. The man kept waving a finger in the blonde's face until she slapped it away and began waving her arms around. The man's eyes widened as he stared at his companion. "Because of _them_," he told Bonnie, his lips close to her ear.

Bonnie relaxed, the tension leaving her body and for a second she leaned into him. Kai felt the urge to wrap his arms around her, to keep her close, but the moment disappeared. He watched Bonnie walk away from him, cross the street and embrace the blonde girl. The blonde beamed, wiping away a tear and then slapped the man on his arm. The man hugged Bonnie, looking relieved and holding her in a one-armed hug.

Kai felt his heart squeeze when Bonnie walked away with her friends. She'd forgotten him already. Slipping back into the crowd, Kai decided to go sight-seeing. Maybe he'd find a stranger to kiss at midnight.

A banner hung over the entrance to the ballroom. One of the Australian tourists he'd met—during dinner, at the hotel restaurant—told him about a party for the hotel's patrons. Kai did not want to be alone so he'd dressed up in a suit and tie and come down. He felt pretty disappointed. There were some balloons, champagne flutes and people talking in every language Kai had ever heard. Still, he wanted Bonnie.

Kai tried to make an effort but his heart wasn't in it. He walked out the front doors of the hotel and into the night. If this was a movie, he'd find Bonnie and they'd kiss at the stroke of midnight but life was not a movie. So he kept walking. He walked all the way to the Seine just to watch the water go under the bridge. He should have gone to New York.

"Kai?" a voice called and Kai turned to see Bonnie moving toward him. She looked completely different. A black dress hugged her curves, her hair shown in the moonlight, her wrap was probably doing a poor job of keeping her warm.

Pulling off his jacket, Kai wrapped it around her as she came to stand beside him. "Hi," he said, forcing himself to remember that boundaries were a thing.

"Thanks," Bonnie said, tugging his jacket more tightly around her.

"You're welcome," Kai said. "So, where are your friends?"

"Damon's on the phone with his girlfriend. And Caroline met some British guy named Klaus and took off. Besides, the party was lame," Bonnie told him. "Too many tourists and balloons. Total cliché."

"Right. So, did you find a stranger to kiss at midnight?" Kai couldn't resist.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "You don't give up, do you?" she asked, turning and she was smiling. Smiling was a good sign.

"Not when I like someone. And I don't like a lot of people," Kai told her. "You know, other than myself."

"I guess you'll have to work on that," Bonnie retorted.

"Yeah. I _do_," Kai pulled out his phone. "It's almost midnight."

"You're _not_ kissing me, Kai," Bonnie told him, turning to look at the water.

Kai felt like she's punched him. "Okay," he muttered, looking at the water. "Good night."

"You don't want your jacket?" Bonnie called after him.

Kai shrugged. "You look better in it." He started to walk away when Bonnie grabbed his wrist.

"Wait," Bonnie said.

"What?" Kai stared down at her.

"What time is it?" Bonnie asked.

Kai glanced at his phone. "Midnight," he said and then Bonnie's lips were on his, her arms were around his neck, his jacket was on the bridge, and he could care less as he lifted her off the ground, kissing her back.

"I thought you didn't want me to kiss you," Kai said after he set Bonnie down.

Bonnie grinned at him. "I said _you_ _couldn't_ kiss _me_, I didn't say _I_ _wouldn't_ kiss _you_. Besides, now I can tell Care that I _am_ capable of being impulsive, something I needed to work on."

"Looks like we're both a work-in-progress." Kai said, leaning down and kissing Bonnie, pulling her to him.

"Looks like," Bonnie whispered. "I'm thinking of doing something else impulsive right now."

"What's that?" Kai asked.

"Asking a stranger to come back to my room with me," Bonnie said and Kai grinned widely.

"How do you know I'm _not_ a serial killer?" Kai questioned her.

Bonnie stared up at him. "Are you?"

"_No_, but would I tell you if I were one?" Kai tilted his head to the side with a teasing smile.

"Is this a horror movies set-up because I feel _much_ _more_ like we're in the middle of a romantic comedy?" Bonnie told him, lacing her arms around his neck.

Kai rested his forehead against hers. "Then we'd be a cliché."

"Is that a _bad_ thing?" Bonnie asked him.

Kai shook his head. "Not tonight. Tonight, I think it's kind of _perfect_." Taking her hand, Kai led Bonnie off the bridge and they walked back to her hotel room to spend a cliché New Year's evening together and Kai found out that he liked clichés very, very much.

**Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing. **

**Answer to guest reviews: **

**Guest: Thank you! Christmas tends to evoke my fluffy side. **

**Guest: I might write some more fluffy, de-aged BonKai in this one-shot series since people really seemed to like it. **

**Peace, **

**Jessica **


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello, my lovely readers. Happy belated Valentine's Day! This one-shot is slightly off-canon—for those of us who saw last night's disappointing episode—and hurt-comfort/angst/friendship/romance. On with the show…**

Chapter 10: Be My Wacky Valentine

_Buffy Summers: Love makes you do the wacky._

Since coming back to the world of the living, Kai Parker had been trying to adjust to his new life. Making friends with old enemies seemed like a good place to start. Helping to take down Cade had given him a few points with the home team but not too many. Not enough. Not yet. Of course, giving Damon back his insipid girlfriend and Bonnie back her BFF also scored a few more. Just not enough.

Kai walked through Mystic Falls Town's Square, giving people who had no idea who he was a wide smile. They smiled back like most people tend to do when they don't get that you're a newly resurrected, psychotic killer. Hell, we've all got our crosses to bear. Right? Live and let live.

Spotting Bonnie walking about ten feet in front of him; Kai decided to chase after her. Seems she was ticked that it turned out to be Kai looking for her help and not some guy named Enzo. Bon Bon the Moral with a vamp boyfriend, who knew? Kai suspected that maybe his time with her _might_ have changed her perspective on people just a _tiny_ bit.

"Bonnie!" Kai shouted after the witch. He saw her shoulders tense but she kept walking. "Avoiding me will get you _nowhere_, Bon!" he shouted after her, cupping his hands around his mouth. Closing the distance between them, Kai feel into step with the humorless witch. "You've got a _severe_ lack of friends, and, hey, so do I. Let's try something new, you and I; start fresh. No more maiming or murdering each other. Just a total love fest. What do you say?"

Rocking on his heels, Kai gave Bonnie a hopeful look as she paused, her eyes set on a spot ahead of her. When she finally looked back at him, her jaw was set and her eyes were all fiery. Man, did he miss her. "_Go_ _back_ _to_ _hell_, _Kai_!" she hissed through her clenched teeth.

"I _would_ but, you see, since it's _closed_ for business, I'm kind of stuck here and I was hoping to make the _best_ of a bad situation," Kai explained with another warm smile.

Bonnie continued to glower up at him, her arms crossing over her chest and she just looked so darn cute. All Kai wanted to do was to lean down and kiss her and a few other things but she'd probably kick him in the groin. "_Leave_. _Me_. _Alone_!"

Bonnie began to stomp off when Kai grabbed her by the arm, turning her around to face him. "Look, Bonnie, I _am_ sorry about the confusion. I _didn't_ know about this Enzo guy. I just wanted the hell out of hell which is kind of a funny of putting it that way when you think about—"

"_Shut_ _up_, _Kai_!" Bonnie shouted, attracting looks from other people. She ignored them but lowered her voice. "When you died, I _didn't_ grieve, all I felt was _relief_ because you couldn't ever hurt me or anyone else again! Now stay _away_ from me!" Bonnie warned. "I may not have my powers but there's more than one way to kill a man, or in your case, a monster!"

Kai sighed as Bonnie walked away from him. There was always tomorrow.

The very next day, Kai arrived at the Salvatore mansion since Bonnie wasn't at home, he figured she might be here, or Damon might be, and he could let Kai know where Bonnie was. After all, Damon owed him one for bringing Elena Pants home.

Ringing the doorbell, Kai waited, rocking on his heels when the door opened to reveal Elena Gilbert. "What are you doing _here_?" she snapped, glaring at Kai and folding her arms over her chest.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the coffin," Kai quipped, peering around her. "Is Bonnie here?" he asked when he didn't see the elusive witch.

"No, she _isn't_," Elena retorted, moving to close the door in Kai's face.

Kai stuck his foot out, preventing the human from closing the door.

"I brought cake," Kai protested, holding the cake out to her. "You know, as a peace offering for sending you into a coma for the past couple of years. Hey, look at it this way, you're younger and you must feel energized from all that sleeping?"

"Kai, to _what_ do we owe the _displeasure_ of _your_ company?" Stefan Salvatore inquired, coming up behind Elena. The newly human, ex-vamp looked exhausted.

"Where's _Damon_?" Kai looked around for the remaining vampire in the family. "Damon!" he shouted. "Oh, Damon!"

Damon came speeding to the door, moving in front of Elena, like Kai might attack her or something. Man, what did he have to do to convince these people that he'd changed? Join a book club? Save an orphan from a burning building? Devote his life to helping those in need? Come on, he wasn't turning into Mother Teresa. He just wanted a little something to call his own. A few quasi-friends, a girlfriend, maybe a job, but he didn't want to push his luck and working just sounded boring.

"What do you _want_, Kai?" Damon snapped, glaring at Kai.

"_See_, that's what I miss. _You_ and all of _this_. It's what's familiar. When you've been in hell for what feels like a billion years, you gain a sense of what's _important_ in the world, like _friends_." Kai waited for Damon's reply.

"_Friends_? When you came out of hell, did they suck what little brains you had out of you and fill your head with rocks? On what planet were _we_ _ever_ _friends_?" Damon snorted, moving to close the door when he noticed Kai's foot. "Foot. Move. It. _Now_!" Damon demanded, his eyes widening at Kai, who felt amused.

"Sure. Just as soon as you tell me where I can find Bonnie." Kai waited patiently while Damon sneered at him.

"Bonnie's been through enough crap for an entire century. The last thing she needs is you freakin' stalking her. So, here's an idea: _Go_ _back_ _to_ _hell_!" Damon snarled before closing the door in Kai's face.

"Gratitude is obviously _not_ a high priority for you, Damon!" Kai shouted, knowing that Damon could hear him. "And I'm _keeping_ the cake!"

A month later, Kai went into the Mystic Grill for a drink because he might find someone to talk to that did not hate his guts. He found Bonnie—sitting in a booth—by herself. By the red-rimming of her eyelids, he figured she'd been crying.

Kai walked over to the bar and ordered two drinks before heading over to Bonnie's booth. She refused to look at him when he sat down. "I won't bug you. You can do whatever it was you were doing but there's a huge crowd, so I was just trying to find a seat."

Bonnie looked at the mostly empty Grill and then back at Kai with a look of disbelief but she didn't speak. Taking one of the glasses, Kai nudged the glass in Bonnie's direction. She didn't bother looking at him or the glass.

After a long, awkward pause, Kai began to hum under his breath and Bonnie let out a huff, glaring at a point above his head. "_Sorry_. I'll stop." Kai began to tap his fingers on the table top.

"Would you, _please_, stop that," Bonnie growled out, her eyes pinning him to his seat.

"_Okay_. But only because you said 'please.'" Kai took a sip of his drink to hide his smirk. Point one goes to the heretic.

Bonnie picked up the drink and looked into its contents. "You didn't _do_ anything to this, did you?" she snapped, looking weary.

Kai gave her a shocked look. "_Me_? What, you take me for: a desperate frat brother? I _don't_ do that kind of thing. Besides, I want you to say _please_ before I take you back to my place."

Bonnie let out a shocked laugh. "You're kidding? You think I would _ever_ let you touch me? Like _that_? God, Damon's right. You came back even _more_ twisted than when you were still roaming this plane." Shaking her head, Bonnie took a tentative sip and then drained the entire glass. "I will tolerate your company if you'll get me another."

Soon Bonnie began to loosen up and even began to giggle. "And then there was the time that Caroline got stuck in these ridiculously tight pants. Elena and I warned her: Caroline, they're _too_ tight. Does she _listen_? _Hell_, _no_! _That's_ _Caroline_. Like a _billion_ years ago before she decided she wanted to marry the guy who ended up _killing_ the guy _I_ was going to marry." Bonnie's laughter died and she let out a sharp laugh. She dissolved into a fit of giggles and then sobbing.

"I think you might have had _enough_," Kai pointed out.

Bonnie glared at him. "Yeah, Kai, I have _had_ enough. More than enough of _everyone_!"

"I think it's time for you to go home and sleep this," Kai twirled a finger at Bonnie, "off."

"What-ever," Bonnie moaned, sliding, slowly to the end of the booth, and falling out, onto her hands and knees.

"O-kay. And that's enough of that," Kai got up and hauled Bonnie to her feet.

"Get off of me or I will give you an _aneurysm_," Bonnie threatened him.

"_Sure_." Kai nodded. He picked Bonnie up and carried her out of the Grill while people watched them. Sometime between the time that he left, and arrived at his car, Bonnie passed out. "She's going to _love_ this." Kai muttered, placing Bonnie in the passenger seat and closing the door behind her. He climbed behind the wheel and drove to his little apartment on the edge of town.

Bonnie did not wake up even when Kai carried her up four flights of stairs, dropped his keys, sat her on the floor, dropped his keys again, picked them up, cursed a lot, and then got the door open before picking her back up. He carried her into his bedroom and laid her down on his bed. "Night, Bon," he whispered, stroking a curl out of her face.

Bonnie groaned and rolled onto her side, her back facing him. "See you in the morning," he whispered to her.

Kai grabbed a pillow and went into the living room, laid down and went to sleep. When he woke up the next morning; Bonnie was gone. "Huh," he grunted, rubbing his eyelids when he found his bed empty.

Mystic Falls was full of sickeningly happy people a month before Valentine's Day. Kai thought he might actually puke. Even the high school students were pairing off. Crazy thing happened in the time since he came back, he'd come to work at the high school teaching Physics. It was great fun helping tomorrow's delinquents learn how to blow things up.

Kai even went to school functions and acted as a chaperone for the prom. Damon stopped hating him. Just the tiniest of bits. He'd included Kai in his bachelor party—but that might be because he couldn't compel people anymore. Sucked to be him. Enjoy the human life, my friend.

Kai was headed to the Salvatore's to help celebrate Damon's and Elena's bringing some poor kid into the world. Not yet but in the next four months. Poor thing. Kid had no idea what kind of people its parents were, or had been. Upside, Bonnie was coming back after going to Europe for the past six months.

Kai brought another cake to the party; hoping this one would not be rejected. Ringing the doorbell, Kai was greeted by a drunken Damon. "Honey, Kai's here!" he shouted.

"Great," Elena's sarcasm made Kai grin broadly.

"Come on in," Damon waved for Kai to enter the house which was decorated with baby blue crap. "_Another_ cake? You do know that there are _other_ desert choices?" Damon questioned Kai, beer in one hand, other hand moving to Kai's shoulder.

When they entered the kitchen, Bonnie looked up from pouring a drink. Damn, she looked really good. Her hair hung all the way down her back, her skirt showed off her legs and her eyes burned into him. He'd missed her almost as much as he did every day he spent in hell. "Hey," he greeted her.

Bonnie nodded but did not speak. Caroline came into the room, looking not-so-happy. "Can I get one of those?" she asked, pointing at Bonnie's drink.

"Sure," Bonnie replied before walking away from the bottle.

Caroline's jaw became rigid and Damon glanced at her. "She'll come around. She's Bonnie."

"It's been a _year_," Caroline hissed, tears shining in her eyes. "We're _not_ even together anymore. What else am I supposed to do?" she cried.

"Try giving her space," Kai suggested.

Caroline scoffed. "Yeah. Coming from the guy who hounded her until she ran away to Europe," she snapped, rounding the counter and picking up the bottle. "If you'll excuse me," she snarled on her way past Kai.

"She's in a _mood_," Damon said. "Let's go."

They walked into the great room where Stefan stood on the opposite side of the room from Bonnie, who refused to look at him. "Hashtag Awkward," Kai whispered into Bonnie's ear.

"Let's get out of here," Bonnie said, startling Kai by taking his hand and dragging him out of the room.

"You're not going to say good-bye to Crazy Pants and Drunk-y Dad!" Kai cried as Bonnie pulled him out of the house.

Bonnie shook her head. "You know that Enzo was going to take the cure. For me. So we could have a family and a normal life."

"Life _isn't_ normal, Bonnie. Not for people like _us_," Kai pointed out.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "It can be _better_."

"Ya think?" Kai suspected that this—right now—might be the best they would have to look forward, but he didn't want to argue.

Bonnie didn't respond. Her eyes were glazed over and Kai could tell she was lost to him, stuck somewhere in her memories. No one could live like that. Reaching out, Kai took hold of Bonnie's hand. "I've got something I want to show you."

"A sharp, metal thing you plan on stabbing me with?" Bonnie inquired, her words holding an edge.

"Oh, come on, Bon Bon. That was like a _billion_ years ago. Time to let your anger at me go," Kai called behind him, not wanting to turn, to see her glaring daggers into his back.

Kai could feel Bonnie dragging her feet but he was stronger than she was. As a warlock he could overpower her and as a heretic; he had to control his strength in order to not hurt the human woman. "You're going to _like_ this," he said.

Bonnie let out a groan. "_Of_ _course_ I'm going to _like_ being pulled into a wooded area by a guy who likes to kill people for fun." She let out a harsh laugh.

"_Liked_. Emphasis on the 'ed." Kai stopped and pulled Bonnie in front of him, resting his hands on her shoulders. "What do you think?" he asked her, his breath grazing her ear. She shivered and he grinned, enjoying the feel of her tremble in his grip. He remembered the time that he'd spooned her, the night before he died and went to hell. It was worth it—holding her that night—even it was a stolen moment and she would have tried to kill him if she'd woken up that night.

Shaking her head, Bonnie turned her head to look up at him. "What are you _seeing_ that I'm _not_? Because it _looks_ like the woods near the Salvatores.' This had better not be some kind of trick where you send mr to a prison world, Kai, so help me God, _I will find a way back and kill you_."

Kai released an exasperated sigh. "Look at that _tree_, Bonnie," he ordered her, pointing at the husk of a tree.

"It's _dead_. What of it?" Bonnie snapped. "You know, this is _not_ the _best_ time to be trying to make some kind of _odd_ observations about _dead_ things."

"Yeah. It's dead. For _now_. But we're _going_ to bring it back to life," Kai told her, patting her shoulders and then heading over to the tree.

Bonnie pursed her lips, looking even more confused than before. "_How_? I can't do magic."

"But _I_ can," Kai said, wiggling a finger in a "come here" gesture.

Bonnie scrunched up her face but walked over to Kai. "This is so _not_ going to work."

"Have a little faith in me," Kai told her. "Hey, isn't that a country song?"

"Kai, if you begin to sing, _I'm_ _out_ _of_ _here_," Bonnie said evenly, her eyes glowing with menace.

Grinning, Kai resisted the urge to sing just to further piss her off and held out his hand. Bonnie reluctantly took it. "Okay. Place you free hand on the tree and close your eyes." Kai instructed. He closed his own eyes and began to chant, quietly at first, and then louder.

After a moment, Bonnie withdrew her hand. "It's _not_ working," she said, taking a step back.

"That's because you _won't_ open up to me!" Kai snapped and Bonnie glared at him.

"Do you think I _don't_ want to be able to do magic?" Bonnie shouted. "I would do _anything_ to have my powers back!"

"Then take my damned hand!" Kai shouted back, holding out his hand. "And _trust_ me!"

Bonnie gritted her teeth, grabbed Kai's hand, placed her other one on the tree and then closed her eyes. Kai gripped her hand, feeling a connection between them this time, feeling the power growing, warm, and then hotter. Bonnie's hand squeezed his and her chanting became more of a shout as their voices rose in the quiet. Kai could feel his magic coursing through them, connecting them as one, and then he let go of Bonnie's hand.

A little gasp came out of the former witch as she looked at the tree that was, now, very much alive. Leaves sprang out of the trees limbs, branches grew and the tree seemed to stand just a little bit taller than its sisters and brothers in the woods. "We did it!" Bonnie cried, surprising Kai when she leapt into his arms. "I can't believe how _good_ that felt!"

Kai grinned, holding onto Bonnie wondering how long it would be before she pulled away from him. He studied her lips. His desire to kiss her became the one thing he felt certain of but he didn't want to ruin this moment.

"Thank you, Kai," Bonnie said, pulling away from him. "I think I'm going to go inside and hang out with my friends now."

"_Cool_. I brought cake. If you want a slice?" Kai felt awkward as they walked back to the house.

"That sounds nice," Bonnie said.

Kai grinned and felt happy for, maybe, the first time in his life. Well, the first time he didn't do something heinous to someone. Maybe he could be a better man after all, like when he told Bonnie, back in that cave in the Prison World, maybe he could make his words into a reality.

Bonnie came walking out of her front door in a short red dress. Kai straightened his tie, hoping she didn't hate his suit. He'd expected her to say "Hell no" when he asked her to the dance. Yes, it was a cheesy high school dance that he had volunteered to chaperone but he thought Bonnie might feel better on neutral ground.

"Hey, you look great," Bonnie said, turning toward him after locking her door.

"Thanks," Kai said, grinning like an idiot. "And you look just…wow! I mean, you're _really_ _beautiful_ _all_ _the_ _time_ but _this_ _look_… I _really_ like this… Yeah." Babbling idiot, Kai could kick himself for talking like this.

Bonnie grinned up at him. "Thanks. Did you want to go or should we hang out here until the dance is over?"

"Yeah. Right. _Sorry_," Kai forced his feet to find his car. At least now he had an excuse to look away from her and try to collect himself.

Unlocking the passenger side door, Kai opened it and waited for Bonnie to get inside. "You've got _both_ feet in there, _right_, because I think you'll need them to dance with."

"I've got both my feet _inside_ the vehicle," Bonnie replied with a laugh.

"Good. Great. Okay." Kai closed the door. "Man, I am an idiot," he groaned, crossing over to the driver's side. He fumbled with placing the keys in the ignition. Who said vampires couldn't have human-like indignities? Or maybe he was the worst vampire ever?

"Are you alright?" Bonnie asked him, positioning her body so she was facing him.

"_Me_? Umm… I'm good. _Great_. Actually. Never better," Kai told her with a grin before he dropped his keys. "Damn it!" he cried, feeling so stupid. He grabbed the keys and sat up.

"Kai, can I ask you a personal question?" Bonnie watched him and Kai nodded. "When was the last time you were on a date?"

Kai thought about it. "Uh… _Never_."

Eyebrows rising, Bonnie let out a chuckle. "That explains a lot. Okay. Well, let's just get those keys into the ignition," she said, taking the keys and slipping them in. "You do remember how to drive, right?" she teased him.

"Sure," Kai nodded but his brain wouldn't work.

Bonnie began to laugh. "I think the safest way for us to do this is if I drive. Move over," she instructed him, getting out of the car and walking around. Kai slid into the passenger seat and Bonnie climbed behind the wheel, adjusting the seat and starting the car.

Kai flipped on the radio until Bonnie began to hum to a song. He thought he might like to listen to her sing sometime but he wouldn't push his luck.

When they arrived at the school, they got out and Kai offered Bonnie his arm. They headed into the school and Bonnie pointed out things that were different and what remained the same. "Oh, look, there's an old pic of me, Care and Lena!" she cried, pointing at a picture of them in their high school cheerleading days. Kai didn't tell her that he'd had it placed there. "And prom. Oh! And graduation! I can't believe they have so many pics of me from high school out on display tonight! That's _so_ weird!"

Kai smiled but kept his mouth shut. On their way into the gym, Bonnie began to laugh. "I remember this song! It was playing during our junior prom! Oh, my God! Look, Kai!" Bonnie pointed at a pictures of Bonnie and her friends appearing on a large screen behind the band that was playing. "Oh!" she cried.

"To the one and only Bonnie Bennett: I don't want to imagine my life without you in it! I Love You, Kai Parker!" Appeared on the screen and Bonnie's jaw dropped.

"You love me?" Bonnie asked him, looking surprised.

"Umm… Yeah. It's kind of _scary_. All these _feelings_. I've been talking to your friends, Caroline and Elena, about what they are. I explained to them in _great_ detail and even though they don't like me and don't trust me, and threatened to kill me if I ever hurt you, again, they helped me understand what all of these emotions are. So, yeah, I love you. I really, really, _really_ love you. Like it's kind of itchy and I am one hundred percent certain that you think I'm still evil but maybe, in like ten years, you might let me, I don't know, marry you and have little babies who are all judge-y and adorable, like their mom and I—"

Kai stopped talking because Bonnie's lips were on his and his words melted into an abyss while his arms wrapped around her and he lifted her off her feet.

When he set her down, Bonnie grinned up at him. "I think I _kind_ of love you, too," she said. "In spite of the fact you are a raving maniac with zero social skills and the fact that I am going to have to teach you Dating 101 and you can't kill people, ever again, and—"

Kai pressed a finger to her lips. "Shut up and kiss me, Ms. Bennett." Bonnie pulled his lips to hers and the students began to laugh and cheer. Kai Parker finally got the girl and he did not plan on screwing this up any time soon.

**Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing. **

**Guest: Thank you! I aim to please! **

**Peace, **

**Jessica**


End file.
